


Keep to the Shadows

by Serpent_Tailed_Angel



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Drunken Consent, Drunken Flings, Love Triangle, M/M, Mpreg, People with differing opinions on controversial subjects, Romance, secret keeping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-07-16 04:47:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 64,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7252984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serpent_Tailed_Angel/pseuds/Serpent_Tailed_Angel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rogue has a problem. Not only has he somehow gotten himself pregnant with Sting's child, but Sting is too head over heels for Minerva to notice that Rogue is equally smitten with him. In fact, Sting doesn't even know he slept with Rogue and is about to become a father, and Rogue is hellbent on keeping him in the dark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cataclysmically Disastrous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue makes a mistake because he might not have the chance to do so later.

Sting always told Rogue he needed to loosen up more at parties, and maybe if Rogue had started on that earlier, things wouldn't have ended up so cataclysmically disastrous. It wasn't that Rogue didn't know how to loosen up. Despite most people's first impression of him being that he was a surely, brooding, hard to approach person, he was nice and friendly and generally upbeat, albeit significantly less extroverted in all those areas when compared to Sting. He could socialize and relax at parties with no difficulty. What he didn't do was get himself drunk. After all, someone had to walk Sting's drunken ass home afterward, and from past experience they knew Lector wasn't physically strong enough to keep Sting on the right path.

This time, however, Rogue didn't care. Sting could stumble into a water reservoir and wake up drenched on top of hung over. It would serve him right. Rogue, in the meantime, planned on ending his night in a similar fashion, although thus far he'd only worked up the nerve to down two mugs of beer.

His goal was to remember nothing of the party, wake up the next morning feeling so sick that he couldn't possibly show up at the guild, and pray to any god who might be out there for Sting to do the same. If Sting forgot that a little liquid courage had given him the boost he needed to finally confess to Minerva, then maybe he'd go back to quietly pinning for her while he tried to work up the nerve sober. Minerva, at least had turned Sting down.

At least, turned him down for the time being. Until she was ready to give him a definitive answer.

It wasn't fair. Minerva came and went without ever palling up to anyone in the guild, and took shots at Sting's intelligence or strength whenever she happened to be around. Even when she tried to joke or act friendly, her idea of nice was what Rogue could most nicely describe as acerbic. What made her so special to Sting, he had no idea. Meanwhile, Rogue was there every day, unconditionally loyal, helping Sting with anything he needed. The closest he got to romantically involved with Sting was being asked to fulfill the duties of a wingman.

Maybe, Rogue thought, if he'd confessed to Sting first, he would have received a positive response. If he'd only made himself say it before Sting could act on his own crush, things could have gone differently. Maybe. Sting had hinted more than enough times that he liked Minerva, but Rogue always played oblivious, thinking that when he finally answered Sting's questions about who he liked—which were always asked as a lead in so Rogue could ask Sting about his affection for Minerva—it would be more appropriate if he didn't know that his special someone was most interested in someone else.

"Can I get another?" Rogue asked, holding his empty mug up.

The bartender smiled and slid another mug down to him. "Not hanging out with the rest of your friends? I thought it was you and Sting you folks came to celebrate for."

"Sting can be a little… much, once he's had a few. I need a break, and I'm going to need another beer to deal with him if he gets any more drunk than he is."

Lies. Rogue couldn't remember ever being inebriated before, and already expected the night to end embarrassingly. He might even confess to Sting after all, although he could honestly tell everyone in the morning that he'd never have done such a thing if he were sober. The truth was that seeing Sting that much closer to someone else put him in too foul a mood. Minerva might not have reciprocated, but she hadn't outright rejected Sting either.

He couldn't admit to being in a foul mood, of course. Not when the guild had taken him and Sting to a bar specifically to celebrate their shared birthday. (Or at least, the day that Sting had arbitrarily decided could be their shared birthday, since neither of them knew the real dates.) He'd shown up in a good mood too. Letting onto the fact that he was unhappy when it was his birthday and he'd been happy ten minutes ago would incite questions. If pressed for answers, Rogue might be forced to admit to the actual problem before he was too drunk to pretend the next morning that he was talking nonsense.

Across the room, Sting slung and arm around Minerva, and though she ducked out from under him in response, she laughed when she did so. Rogue, seeing the exchange, grabbed the new mug and took a swig.

How much beer did it take to get dead drunk anyway? Sting usually made it through eleven or twelve before he had to lean on Rogue to keep from falling over, but if Rogue remembered what the nurse said that time he had to rush Sting to the hospital to get his stomach pumped, it took less alcohol to feel the effects when your body wasn't used to it. Rogue took that as a good thing, since it meant he was significantly less likely to give himself alcohol poisoning before he could pass out.

By the time he'd finished his third drink, he already had a little trouble keeping track of where exactly up and down were, which Rogue took as a sign that he was drunk enough that if he had any more he'd be as lost trying to get home as Sting would be, which would end badly. If Sting heard that number, he'd get a kick out of what a lightweight Rogue was. Still not feeling sufficiently wasted to stop caring about what Sting did, Rogue pushed himself up from the bar and walked in an almost straight line over to Sting's table.

Sting took one look at him and burst out laughing. "Look who's finally partying!"

"Yeah, yeah. Have fun finding your own way home, 'cuzz I don't remember the directions," Rogue said. It wasn't entirely true, but he'd already determined he wasn't helping Sting anyway.

Sting, in response, only laughed harder. Rogue smiled at that, thinking of how Sting would handle hearing anything that loud come morning.

"Here I thought you planned on sulking in the corner all evening," Rufus said. "Finally realized this party is also for you?"

Rogue snorted. "What party with Sting in it ever focuses on anyone else?"

"Oh?" Sting leaned over, slinging an arm around Rogue. "Jealous, are we?"

Perfectly-sober-Rogue could have brushed that off and said something to casually dismiss that was obviously said in jest. Rogue-who-only-had-three-beers-but-was-already-a-little-too-drunk-for-his-wits was not quite able to accomplish this. He processed that it was only a joke slower than he normally would have, and then lingered on the fact in an ideal world, Sting would worry about making him jealous, not joke about the idea. By the time he realized he needed to deny anything, too much time had passed, so he instead looked away and hoped his hair would hide that he was blushing.

"You _are_ jealous." The hand not already on his shoulder clapped him in the chest. Only God knew what gesture Sting had been going for when he did that. "What'cha jealous about?"

For fear that it might make the room start spinning in his intoxicated state, Rogue refrained from rolling his eyes when he said, "Go home, Sting. You're drunk."

"That's the point of coming to a bar, silly! So, what'cha jealous 'bout? Is it that I got a cute girlfriend? Don't be sad. I'm sure there's someone out there who likes the scary emo look."

"Nevermind." Rogue shoved Sting, and the blond fell sideways across the booth seat. " _I'm_ going home because you're drunk."

"Ah. No, wait. Rogue!"

Rogue might have been a little tipsy, but he could still walk in a mostly straight line. Sting, on the other hand, didn't seem to remember how one pushed themselves upright. This made for an incredibly easy getaway, and Rogue was out of the bar and several blocks down the street before his sharp ears picked up Sting following him outside.

"Rogue!" Sting shouted.

Dear Lord was he ever loud. Rogue cringed and tried to walk faster, but nearly lost his balance and had to switch back to a normal walking pace.

He made it around the corner and, forgetting in almost no time at all that he was not completely sober, tried to make a run for it. For his efforts, Rogue found himself stumbling a good ten feet before he managed to regain his balance. Once perfectly upright again (as far as he could tell), Rogue decided to instead duck into a nearby ally and hope Sting was too drunk to follow his scent. He couldn't outrun the idiot, and one way or another, he didn't want to lead Sting all the way back to his house.

"Rogue! Hey! Wait up! Whatever I said, I'm sorry Rogue, so—Oof."

Unable to help himself, Rogue glanced back and saw that Sting had not only fallen over, but made no effort to get back up, or even role off of his stomach. The jealous, jilted part of Rogue said that it served him right, but jilted or not, Rogue was still in love with Sting. He couldn't leave the idiot lying there, possibly with a serious concussion from face-planting into the cobblestones.

He turned around and walked over to Sting, who'd only made it just around the corner, and rolled him over to inspect the damage. A few minor bruises, but not enough to offset the obnoxious grin on the blond's face.

"I knew you'd come back for me."

"And now that I know you're fine, I'm abandoning you again."

"Wait!" Sting managed to grab Rogue's pant leg. "I'm not fine. The party's gonna be sad without you and I don' know where I live. I mean… no, wait... I don't know _which direction_ I live in."

Rogue tore his leg out from Sting's grasp. "Get your _girlfriend_ to take you home."

"My what?"

Rogue paused, then glanced to the bar door. Inside, he heard no signs of Minerva coming to make sure Sting was okay. Anyone with eyes could have seen he wasn't in any condition to be out on the streets alone.

Well… fine then. He could subtly rub it in Sting's face come morning, when Sting was already in a bad mood from the hangover, that _he_ was the one who Sting needed to get help from after Minerva left him to fend for himself. Rogue pulled Sting up off the ground and put a hand around his waist, setting off towards Sting's house.

The walk home was uneventful, at least relative to the average drunken escort. Rogue did make a wrong turn twice, but Sting was oblivious to this, and acted as he normally did when Rogue helped him home. He laughed at stupid things he would normally never pay attention to, attempted to whisper dark secrets to Rogue that came out slurred and often ended when he accidentally licked Rogue's ear, and occasionally burst into song to "lighten up the streets a little." Mercifully, magic was something Sting always retained enough sense to realize he shouldn't use when wasted.

They made it to Sting's, and Rogue produced his copy of the key from his pocket to let them in, although it took a few tries to get the key in the hole. Once inside, he dumped Sting on the couch. The idiot promptly started snoring, which meant that even if he wasn't at the blackout stage of drunk, Rogue could do as he pleased without Sting knowing about it come morning. After having to walk Sting home, not to mention suffer through watching Sting confess to someone that wasn't him, Rogue figured he'd earned the right to go through Sting's pantry for something to give him a little energy to make it back to his own apartment. Neither of them would enjoy being hungover together, if he stayed until morning.

Rogue was in the middle of opening up a box of buttery crackers when the snoring stopped. Preoccupied with the wrinkling of the plastic sleeves inside the box, he didn't notice the noise's absence until two arms wrapped around him, and he was pulled back into the main kitchen area.

"What'r you mad at me for anyway?"

"Weren't you asleep?"

Dunno. What'r you mad for?"

Sting was drunk enough to accept any lie, but rather than go that route, Rogue asked, "How many drinks did you have?"

"I lost count. What'r you mad for? I don't like it when you get mad."

Rogue knew Sting well enough to know that when he forgot how much he'd had, he'd definitely hit the blackout point. Rogue could say whatever he wanted and Sting wouldn't remember come morning, so he told the truth.

"I don't want to watch you gloating about how you and Minerva are going to be a thing when you'd be better off with me. She hardly even looked at you all evening."

Sting giggled. "You _lllike_ me."

"Yes. Not that you ever notice." That came out more bitter than he'd intended, but then he'd been frustrated with the situation for a while, so he wasn't surprised.

"I can notice you now. Then will you stop being mad?"

"Sure. Whatever." If drunk Sting was the one to get under his skin, it made more sense to accept drunk Sting's attempts to make amends than it did to demand an apology from sober Sting in the morning.

"Kay. But you gotta help me get upstairs."

"Why?"

"Cuzz that's where my bed is. You want t' do the kind of stuff with me that I want to do with Minerva, right?"

This was where Rogue's low alcohol tolerance and three beers led to disaster. Sober Rogue would have known then and there to call a halt to things and run home at max speed. Having drank more than he should have, Rogue instead reflected on this unique situation, which he was likely never to find himself again, and concluded that for _research purposes_ he ought to see what Sting wanted with Minerva. As his rival in love, he needed to know exactly what he was up against. He'd probably die a virgin if he didn't, at the rate things were going.

Rogue led Sting upstairs and into the bedroom, and already had his shirt off before Sting thought to say, "We need to be naked for this."

Thankfully, Sting didn't need any help undressing himself. As Rogue climbed into bed with him, despite knowing that this was what Sting wanted with someone _else_ , he couldn't help but think that so long as Sting didn't throw up midway through, this would be the best birthday ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact. I wrote this chapter in freaking October. But I was full swing in another fic then and didn't want to have two fics posting at the same time while school was going on. (I don't like to go too long without updating something once I start posting, and I don't like to feel pressure to keep working on too many stories at once.) I was gonna post it first once I finished with all but the bonus stuff for Burn Out, but then when I mentioned it and Butterfly Sanctuary on my blog, that story generated more interest from a brief summary.
> 
> Then when I started proof-reading this to post, like, a week ago, I noticed that chapter 2 or whatever mentions that chapter 1 takes place ion June 20th. (I have this info in a calendar somewhere, but I mostly check that when writing new stuff to make sure that someone doesn't go through nine months of spring during a pregnancy, not to reference the exact specific date of a scene I already wrote. I know I pulled that date out of my ass when I first wrote this, but it was only a few days off and I thought "Eh. Why not post it on the day this stuff is supposed to happen?" Because waiting a couple extra days to post would be easier than shifting all the story events back a week and making sure that any references that might allude to the date are still correct.
> 
> This is the only chapter that I plan to have correspond to the real time date, though. Some chapters have, like, a two month gap between them, and I really don't like to make people wait that long for an update. (I never remember jackshit about a fic I was following if I go that long without a chapter.) Also, some chapters start on one date and end on a much later date. When would I even post those ones?


	2. Liar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue almost gets away with a lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a word of warning, I've gotten increasingly less particular about excuses for mpreg over the years. I used to have a list of reasons that were acceptable or not based on what type of world you were writing in, but at this point I don't really care. I find Omegaverse creepy for assorted reasons unrelated to the mpreg aspects and will steer away from stories that use it, but as far as mpreg in and of itself goes, I really don't care.

Rogue was the worst person ever.

Sting was drunk. Sting was blackout drunk. And Rogue had been… well, he'd been drunk too, but less so. Enough less so that he held himself accountable when he woke up in Sting's bed, naked, filthy, and sore between the legs.

It hadn't even been _worth_ it. With his mind addled by alcohol, Rogue's memory of the night before was fuzzy. He could recount all the events that had occurred in chronological order, but the details were lost. His first time would forever be too hazy for him to even say if Sting had been good in bed or not. Faced with the likelihood that there would have been no time with Sting otherwise, that wasn't nothing, but when held up to the fact that he totally took advantage of how drunk Sting was…

Rogue wasn't exactly experienced when it came to drunken flings that you regretted come morning, but he knew that fleeing before whoever's house it was woke up was a common practice. The idea was tempting, and he knew Sting would be too hung over to notice that there were no fresh women's smell's in his room. Sting, however, was Rogue's best friend, and deserved better than that. Instead, Rogue did what Lacryma-Vision sitcoms taught him was the second most common follow-up to a drunken fling, and got up to go cook breakfast. To his understanding, Sting would wake-up thinking whoever he slept with fled, come down to the kitchen, see Rogue there, and realize what had happened. That was how it always went in shows, at least.

His own headache was mild, but Rogue started coffee for Sting, vaguely recalling that this was maybe supposed to help with hangovers. Then he started on bacon. No one could be mad while eating bacon. If he wanted Sting to not be mad with him for what happened, bacon was the safest route. And given that Sting always assumed Rogue stayed sober after he drank too much to remember the actual night's events, Rogue expected to be blamed. Once they got to the guild, Rufus could recall for everyone that he'd seen Rogue drinking, and then maybe Sting would be a little less mad.

The scent and sound of bacon on the stove triggered shuffling upstairs, and a few minutes later Sting descended. Red-eyed, hair excessively disheveled, squinting at the light even though Rogue had flicked no switches and opened no curtains. He glanced at the bacon, then up to Rogue.

"I thought you were a girl."

Hungover Sting never had the patience for sarcasm, so rather than assure Sting that he'd always been a boy, Rogue said, "Nope. Why?"

"Sometimes whoever comes back with me stays to raid the kitchen." He opened the fridge, winced at the light that poured out, shut it, and winced at the noise. "You didn't see who I brought home, did you?"

The words 'me' caught in Rogue's throat.

"Guess not. Did Minerva see?"

"She didn't follow you when you left the bar."

"Good." Sting paused. "You let me leave the bar by myself?"

Technically yes. Rogue left the bar without any intent of looking after Sting, and was several blocks away before Sting came after him. No one would be able to refute that they left separately. Rogue felt his heart pound in his chest, realizing the opportunity he had. His scent was all over the house already, so Sting wouldn't find it odd to smell Rogue in his bedroom, and he had no memory of letting Rogue into his bed either. He thought it was some girl who'd already left, and since everyone else saw Rogue throw a fit and leave without Sting, there would be no one to correct him. Even Frosch and Lector had spent the night with Yukino, Lector uninterested in going to a bar if Sting had someone else to get him home and Frosch forbidden from following.

"I'll take your silence to mean you did. Asshole."

"We had a fight," Rogue said. "I left ahead of you."

"Is that why you're talking so loud?"

Rogue was already making an effort to keep his voice low, but he dropped to a whisper. "Sorry."

"Whatever. Bacon."

"It's almost ready. Let me get you something to drink." Rogue grabbed the coffeepot and a mug. "Sorry about leaving you like that. I came over early to make sure you got home alive and help with the morning after. I didn't see anyone else here when I arrived, but I've only been here a few minutes."

"That so? Thanks."

Sting took the coffee mug from Rogue and managed a smile before nursing the drink. Rogue smiled back, fully suspecting that he was going to hell.

He _was_ going to hell. What kind of horrible person took advantage of their drunk best friend, lied about it in the morning, then tried to pass themselves off as good and helpful?

The bacon finished, and the boys ate. Sting stopped midway through to vomit, and while Rogue thought that warranted staying home for the day, Sting disagreed. He resumed drinking coffee, packed up the rest of the bacon, donned thick sunglasses, and let Rogue lead him to the guild, munching on the bacon as they went.

"By the way… Did I say anything I'd regret to Minerva last night?"

"You might have flirted with her." A brief moment of horror over what Sting might do if he knew he confessed made Rogue, who was already going to hell anyway, add, "You flirted with half the women there, so I don't think she made anything of it, other than to be annoyed when you threw your arm around her."

Sting froze midstride.

"She knew you were drunk," Rogue assured him. "Everyone knew you were drunk. You were _really_ drunk."

And he'd taken advantage of that.

Swallowing, Rogue pushed Sting forward towards the guild. The rest of the guild couldn't tell Sting what passed between them. No one knew he'd done that. No one would ever need to know, and he could take that secret with him to the grave.

If he was lucky, maybe they wouldn't tell Sting he'd full on confessed to Minerva either. She could order everyone not to comment on the incident until she made up her mind, knowing the same way Rogue and everyone else did that Sting was too drunk to remember what he'd said. Rogue didn't deserve it, but if he was _really_ lucky, she might even turn Sting down.

-o-

Rogue got lucky. Not _really_ lucky, but lucky. No one commented on the party save to laugh at how weak Sting was in the face of loud noises, and Minerva pulled Rogue aside shortly after they arrived to threaten him with some vague, horrible torture if he told Sting that she'd agreed to consider him. She didn't need the idiot mooching up to her while she made up her mind.

Promising not to tell was easy. Cautioning that he still had to support Sting in any other attempts to win her affection was not, and not just because Minerva wasn't happy to hear it. If he and Sting weren't so close that what Rogue really wanted most was for Sting to be happy—even if it meant he couldn't share that happiness, Rogue would never dream of helping with something like that.

Then again, if Sting wasn't so near and dear to Rogue, it would do him not harm to help Sting give his heart to someone else either.

And so life resumed as normal, save that everyone but Sting knew that he'd confessed to Minerva and that she was considering him, and that Rogue now harbored the dark secret that he'd slept with Sting. Beyond that, Minerva kept showing no signs that she picked up on Sting's feelings, Sting shamelessly flirted with her in between jobs and his duties as guild master, then went out and got wasted afterward and complained drunkenly about how anyone could be so dense when somebody else loved them so much. Rogue generally agreed with this, and once or twice contemplated drinking alongside Sting over this issue. At least until he remembered how the last time went.

Life could have gone on indefinitely as though the birthday party had been uneventful. Rogue fully expected that it would, even after he got sick.

At first Rogue didn't think much of it. The first morning he woke up sick to his stomach came right after being roped into a house party at Sting's, so he'd given it fifty-fifty odds that he'd wind up with food poisoning before even having seen what Sting served. He sprinted to the bathroom upon waking up, hacked up whatever was in his stomach, and crawled back into bed.

The day went by like any when Rogue made the mistake of eating Sting's cooking. He lay still for as long as he could to not aggravate his stomach, had applesauce and some water for lunch, and curled up on the couch to watch whatever looked interesting on his Lacryma-Vision. When Sting dropped by, already suspecting the food he served the night before had made Rogue sick, they went through their usual routine. Sting offered to warm up soup, Rogue joked that he was already sick enough from letting Sting feed him, and then Sting sat with him for the afternoon, falling asleep with he grew bored with what as on the screen.

Even if he still felt lousy, sitting there with Sting's head on his shoulder made it a good day. Rogue rested his head on Sting's and closed his eyes, and thought that he wouldn't mind getting sick again.

At least, that's what he thought until he started the next morning racing to the bathroom to throw up.

One summer, when Sting tried to make sushi that it turned out he let sit on the counter for a whole day before thinking to keep it cold, Rogue got so sick that he had to be hospitalized. Other than that, he'd never had food poisoning knock him out for more than a day. That had been _awful_. Diarrhea and constant dry retching kept Rogue up late into the night and he couldn't even keep water down—the resulting dehydration being why he had to go to the hospital. He'd felt too wretched to decline Sting's help, for as mad as he was with the idiot back then.

This didn't feel nearly as bad. He was still sick, sure. There was a constant nauseas feeling throughout the day, and opening his fridge to look at what he had to eat turned his stomach. He kept food down, though. Applesauce again, and when he chanced it he managed a small bowl of plain rice. He didn't think it was another truly terrible case of food poisoning, which made it odd that he'd be sick for more than a day.

Sting dropped by before lunch ready to rush Rogue to the hospital, which was sweet of him. No doubt he remembered the same sushi incident. Unfortunately, leaving the guild so early meant he needed to go back, which meant it was only Rogue and Frosch for the afternoon.

By day three, Rogue decided it wasn't food poisoning, which was weird, because he had no temperature, so he didn't think it was a cold either. So as to not give Sting reason to panic by missing a third day, he showed up at the guild as soon as he felt he had it in him. Sabertooth's guildhall, at his own insistence once Sting hit the legal drinking age, did not serve alcohol before five, but Rogue's sharp nose picked up the scent of the previous night's alcohol as he stepped in, and without any warning, he promptly threw up in the doorway.

"If you're still sick, you should take it easy, man," Sting said, which was _not_ the sort of consolation Rogue wanted right after walking in and throwing up in front of the entire guild.

On day four, Rogue decided that even if he was able to eat and drink, the constant queasiness still warranted a hospital visit. It killed him to visit over what was more or less a minor upset stomach. Sure, maybe he'd been vomiting for four days in a row, but he'd managed to keep enough down that it didn't feel like he was running on nothing but fumes. Hospital visits should have only been for life threatening emergencies.

He wouldn't have gone, if it were up to him. Hospitals smelled like death that hadn't been properly masked by bleach, with a nice surface layer of disease. Setting foot in one was enough to make Rogue feel ill. Frosch, however, insisted in a rare moment of brilliance that the hospital would have an easier time treating him if he went in for help _before_ whatever was wrong became life threatening. Describing the situations that warranted a hospital visit to her as 'life threatening' had been a bad idea, because she'd grown certain that he would die if he left his stomach bug untreated, and once she started crying over his certain demise, he couldn't tell her no.

That was fine. It would smell awful, but he could shower a couple times when he got home, and going to see the doctor when he was sick was probably a good thing. They could check off a few symptoms, maybe run a test, hand him an antibiotic that would help him get over whatever he had faster, and then things would be back to normal.

-o-

"What do you mean _pregnant?_ "

"It's a term we use to describe someone who has conceived a child." The doctor couldn't keep from grinning at his stupid sense of humor when he said that. "Oh. You also have some symptoms of dehydration, so try to get more fluids. Something that restores electrolytes at the same time would be preferred. A sports drink perhaps, or a lemon or ginger soda. Whatever you have an easier time with. The carbonation in soda is good for nausea, but the sugar isn't."

"I'm not _pregnant_. Look." Rogue pulled his shirt up. "Do you see breasts?"

"No, but I can see that you get plenty of exercise. You should keep up some sort of work out regiment, but I would advise you avoid any impact sports until after the child is born. Do you like to swim?"

" _How can I be pregnant?_ "

"Swimming is an _excellent_ form of exercise during pregnancy, although yoga is also highly recommended. It's great for stress management too, so for you that might be the route to go." The doctor paused. "Would you say you're normally a high strung person, or is this stressful situational?"

"My doctor just told me I'm _pregnant_ ," Rogue growled. "Take a guess."

The doctor ticked a checkbox on his clipboard. "Baseline."

"Is this a prank? Did Sting put you up to this?" Rogue asked. In the three days between when the hospital first started testing for the cause of his illness and when they'd brought him in to give the diagnosis there had been plenty of time for someone to set anything up, but he'd told no one from the guild that he'd bitten the bullet and gone to get medical help for his illness. On his own Sting wouldn't suspect Rogue might go to a hospital from something as non-life-threatening as persistent mild nausea, so that wasn't likely, and he tried another option. "Is this payback for skipping out on all those regular checkups?"

"Mr. Cheney, I assure you we've gone over all the test results and this is what we've found. You said you were sexually active, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah, but… I'm male."

"We're aware of that. Sometimes strange things happen when you get two magic users together. I assume your sexual partner is also a magic user?"

"Yes." It felt weird to hear Sting called that. "But I think I would have heard of something like this if it happened before."

"We have a thing called patient confidentiality laws, Mr. Cheney. As it happens there is an archive for looking up precedents in these sorts of strange cases, and we found three previous incidents while confirming that your situation was possible."

Rogue vaguely recalled that such laws existed, and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He really could be pregnant then? The only person he'd _ever_ slept with… who didn't even remember what they'd done, and who pined for someone else…

Placing a hand over his stomach, Rogue whispered, "I think I'm going to be sick."

The doctor bent over and grabbed a waist bin to pass to Rogue.

"May I ask how recently you've been sexually active? For most patients we would go by their menstrual cycle, but for you that isn't an option."

"June twentieth," Rogue said. "About three weeks ago. Before that I never… it would have been then." His first and only time, and now he, a _guy_ , was pregnant. That went beyond unlucky. Way beyond. "What… what should I expect?"

"Morning sickness, mood swings, back pain, the usual for a pregnancy. Two of the previous cases noticed exacerbated symptoms, especially as the pregnancy progressed, so do come in if you feel excessively nauseated. Morning sickness in particular is one that was highlighted for severe concern. We may need to take emergency measures to keep you hydrated. Oh, and the male pelvis isn't designed to hold a child the same way a female's is. Expect some balance issues from that."

Yay. Rogue rubbed his stomach, imagining it bursting out to look like he'd swallowed a watermelon. "How… _large_ , would the baby…"

"There's no way to tell. Some women don't show at all, others look like they're due well ahead of time. We only have three previous cases to go one, but I saw no trend between them."

Maybe his stomach wouldn't grow too much. Maybe his baggier clothes would be enough to hide it. He couldn't tell Sting about this. He _couldn't_. Sting didn't even know they had sex.

He was a pregnant male carrying the child of his best friend who didn't even know they had sex…

Rogue leaned down and vomited into the waist bin.

The doctor gave Rogue an awkward shoulder pat. "If you'd like, we can notify the father for you. Your guild should also be informed. They'll need to reserve jobs for you that don't endanger the child. Sting Eucliffe is the master at the moment, right? I can send him a note—"

"No!" Rogue's head shot up, a bit of bile still clinging to his lip. "I-it's fine. No one needs to know."

"Someone else should know," the doctor insisted.

"You have patient confidentiality laws."

There was nothing the doctor could say to dispute that fact, and Rogue fixed the man with a glare to say that he wasn't budging on his stance. No one was going to know about this pregnancy, and as for what to do with the baby when it came out… he'd get to that when he got to that. Worst case, he could pretend it was an impromptu adoption. Just so long as his stomach didn't get too big.

"You might have some difficulty with work, if the guild doesn't know to accommodate you."

"It's fine. I handle job registration. I already set aside the ones I want to take for myself." Maybe that was an abuse of power, but if the guild master didn't like that one of his members was doing such a thing, then he could do his own damn job and handle the job registry for himself.

"You might appreciate having someone to talk to."

"I have Frosch." For all the help she would be. He might not be able to tell her for fear she'd let the secret slip.

"Your significant other—"

"I don't _have_ one of those!"

The doctor's eyes widened in understanding, and he gave a nod. "We'll keep it quiet for now, if you'd like."

"Thank you."

"Now, reviewing your nutrition intake from the past week, I think we might want to consider treating your morning sickness."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder that I don't care.
> 
> This chapter was fun though. In part for the continuation of Sting and cooking from my last Stingue mpreg, this time with the ability to not burn things. In part for the scene with the doctor breaking the news. I just grin every time I watch him totally ignore how Rogue is freaking out and then check the little box saying that Rogue isn't any more stressed than normal. I would change doctors immediately if I had someone like, but that doesn't mean it doesn't amuse me. Mostly for the Stingue goodness with wanting to look after Rogue when he's sick.


	3. Crackers and Ginger Ale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue decides that he's not going to have as easy a time as he thought of hiding things.

"You can't disband the team!"

Rogue winced. He'd hoped Sting wouldn't yell so loud when he made his declaration. Now they had the whole guild's attention as he said, "Yes I can, and I'm doing just that."

"But… but…" Sting grasped with his hands for something to say. " _Why?_ Are we fighting? What are we fighting over?"

"It's not about a fight," Rogue said, glancing towards the rest of the guild. "I just… can't work with you right now."

"But you've never had any trouble working with me before! We work _great_ together!"

"Can you stop yelling?" Rogue pleaded.

Sting followed his gaze to the rest of the guild, staring unabashedly at them, and clicked his tongue. "Fine. Office. Now."

The guild's office had not been used for anything other than storage since Sting took over the guild, and when Sting dragged Rogue into it and threw him down into Genma's old chair, it kicked up a cloud of dust that left both of them coughing. Sting recovered first, and so had time to ask Rogue in at a lower volume, "Why can't we work together?"

"It's not—" Rogue coughed. "It's not that I can't work with _you_. I can't take the kind of work you like."

"But why not? It's never been a problem before."

"Health issues."

Sting froze, remembering Rogue's week long illness. When Rogue said no more, refusing to meet Sting's eye, the blond sat down on the desk and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder. "All that vomiting?"

"Yeah. It's… nothing life threatening, I don't think. I mean, the doctor didn't mention anything about it being life threatening, but I do have to go a little easier for a while."

"Sorry. I didn't realize it got so bad that you went to see a doctor. You showed up today, so I thought you were, y'know, back in working order."

Rogue shook his head. "I still feel lousy. I just thought I should come and let you know, whether I threw up trying or not."

"Geeze. If you need to take it easy, you shouldn't go somewhere that makes you feel worse." That hand on Rogue's shoulder turned into an arm around his entire backside, and Rogue made no attempt to break away from Sting's embrace. "It's fine. I wouldn't want to make you any worse off. We can team up again once you're back to normal?"

"Yeah. I think so."

It felt nice in Sting's arms. Rogue took a deep breath, and Sting's scent surrounded him and blocked out the still settling dust. If the two of them could stay right there, together, then he wouldn't mind the pregnancy.

Sting let go of him three seconds later.

"You want to take it easy at home?"

"I still need to work," Rogue said, trying not to let his disappointment show. That didn't last nearly long enough. "It's mostly the smell from the bar that makes coming to the guild worse than sitting at home, but I can go into a back room to help you with papers. And I'll pick out a job while I'm doing that."

"We can close the bar," Sting offered.

"And there goes half the guild's income," said the one who balanced the budget for his lazy guild master.

"We can more thoroughly clean the bar, then. Would that help?"

Rogue nodded.

"Consider it done." Sting gave Rogue another pat on the shoulder, which wasn't nearly as good as a hug, but beat nothing. "You take the rest of today off, though. I'll make sure the bar is odor free by the time you come in tomorrow."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Oh, and Rogue?"

"Yeah?"

"Once you're feeling up to it… would you be alright with asking Yukino out? It doesn't have to be for real, and you can tell her that. I thought maybe if it's a double date, I'd have an easier time with Minerva…"

Rogue couldn't honestly say he'd be happy to help, but he was still obligated to be supportive. He also wanted another hug, so he gave Sting one. Sting laughed at the gesture and wrapped his arms around Rogue in return.

"Thanks. I can always count on you."

Rogue had to help anyway, so Sting would never consider that he technically hadn't said 'yes'.

-o-

He had to work, and he had to go to the guild for work, but that didn't mean Rogue liked it.

It proved impossible to completely get the smell of beer out of the floorboards around the bar, and Rogue wouldn't let Sting replace the floor over what he swore up and down was only a temporary illness. Even if he'd be pregnant for the better part of a year, morning sickness couldn't possibly last that entire time. This meant the best they could do was weaken the beer smell, and once that wasn't so overpowering, Rogue discovered that quite a few items on the guild's menu also upset his stomach. He dared not be so self-centered as to ask that Sting have that changed, so he was left hiding in the old, now dust free office during meal time.

Sting took to bringing him crackers and ginger ale and some sort of weird raspberry tea whenever he hid, which Rogue thought to be a nice but useless gesture until it turned out that they really did help his stomach. Granted, it wasn't a cure all. None of the morning sickness remedies the doctor had provided for him properly suppressed his nausea. At best, they made it mild enough that forcing himself to eat a full meal wasn't quite as difficult. Any drugs that might have done the job better were, apparently, not baby safe.

But the crackers were nice regardless of how well they worked. The only downside was that Sting coming to see him at a point where he already felt bad was that Sting wound up in the habit of coming in at the right time to catch Rogue when his morning sickness got the better of him.

And so, five weeks into his pregnancy, Rogue found himself on the floor, bent over the toilet of what had once been Genma's private bathroom, coughing up stomach acid and leftover bits of breakfast as Sting stood awkwardly in the doorway behind him.

If Rogue thought throwing up at the door while everyone watched was bad, it was only because he hadn't gone through _this_. His morning sickness had gotten progressively worse, which meant instead of a quick up-chuck, he was stuck on the floor, clinging to the toilet for support, feeling too shaky to stand. Queasiness alone left him sweating, and there were bits of vomit in his hair. He didn't want _anyone_ to see him like this. Especially not Sting.

Not to mention Sting was completely unhelpful. Sting stood in the doorway and rubbed his arm as he watched Rogue, unsure what to do. When it seemed like Rogue was done, he took a step forward and reached out to place a hand on the poor boy's shoulder, but then pulled back and took a step away. Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, he then asked, "Are you okay?"

"Just peachy," Rogue croaked before gagging again.

"If there's anything I can get you…?"

"I'm fine."

When Sting made no effort to point out that he quite clearly wasn't fine, Rogue tried to stand. This turned out to be a mistake, as the motion set his stomach off again. He fell back to his knees and dry wretched. His only consolation was that this time, Sting found the nerve to actually place a hand on his should.

"You don't look like you're fine," he said. "It's getting worse, isn't it? You don't have to help me out here. I can take you home and—"

"I'll be fine, really. This won't last forever." The idea of Sting helping him home and lazing with him on the couch sounded appealing, but he had books on coping with a pregnancy and child rearing lying out at home that he couldn't let Sting see, so Rogue said, "You have a guild to run. Don't worry about me so much."

Sting hesitated, then asked slowly, "This condition of yours… did the doctor say how long it will last? How many months? When are you expecting…"

"I should be fine before this time next year," Rogue said. "I'll be fine. Really. I just got a little overwhelmed. I can get back to work now."

"Well… Okay. Want me to bring you anything? I can heat up some soup."

"No you can't."

"I can handle soup, Rogue. It comes pre-cooked anyway."

Through teasing, Rogue managed a smile. "That's questionable, and in my current condition, not worth the risk to find out. Maybe in an hour or two, Yukino could heat up soup."

"You open a can, put it in a pot, and take it off the stove when you see steam. I can manage that much, stupid." Sting gave Rogue a playful swat. "Oh, shit. That didn't hurt, did it?"

Laughing, Rogue said, "No, get back to work," and gave Sting a light shove towards the door.

Sting laughed too, and waved to Rogue on his way out of the office.

Only once Sting was gone did Rogue place a hand over his stomach, silently cursing the parasite that had taken up residence in him. He'd noticed a small bump that morning. With eight months to go, that didn't bode well on the 'hiding the pregnancy' front, but Rogue was still determined to keep Sting in the dark. Sting had a guild to run and a girl to win. Even if he'd likely pitch in to help Rogue raise a child no matter where it came from, he didn't need to be weighed down with the knowledge that he was a father.

If it came to it, if his pregnancy got impossible to hide, he would need to leave the guild. At least until after the child was born. He hadn't worked out how to do that yet. Disappearing without a word felt wrong, but he knew that any warning he gave would prompt Sting to stop him. Rogue knew that if Sting begged him not to leave, he wouldn't have it in him to go. He _had_ to go. It wouldn't be fair to Sting otherwise. The whole pregnancy happened because he took advantage of the situation when Sting was drunk, and that he did that made him enough of a shitty and undeserving friend without expecting Sting to put up with the consequences too.

-o-

Rogue returned home from a day of vomiting at the guild hall and took stock of everything. After having cut out all luxury expenses, focused primarily on work, and been as frugal with food as he could (something helped by his diminished appetite), he had enough saved up to last him a few months. His own home was paid off, so it would have been ideal to stay there, but Sting knew his address. A cheap apartment would have to do until the baby was born. Maybe a cheap hotel. From long term missions, Rogue knew a few that would rent out their rooms as if they were studio apartments. Sabertooth, under previous rule, had been discouraged from settling for cheap accommodations, but that never stopped Rogue. Even if they billed their clients for any work expenses, he liked to think it brought continued patronage if he didn't go overboard with spending.

He had a whole thirty-five weeks to go, and enough money to last him twelve weeks. That was before accounting for any medical expenses that might come up, or any other unexpected incidents. Given that he was _pregnant_ , Rogue wasn't about to bet on nothing of the sort happening.

Dinner was a can of soup, a few steamed vegetables, and crackers. Rogue's stomach couldn't handle much more than that. Luckily, that was all easy to prepare, and he left Frosch to the task while he got to work planning out the next nine months. She might not have been let in on Rogue's condition yet, but she knew he was sick and worried about things to come, and even when Rogue wasn't in need of help, she was happy to offer it.

While Frosch cooked, Rogue went over what all supplies he would need to take with him when he went into hiding. What would he need to buy? Where would he go? Which hospital would he need his doctor to transfer information to? How would he make sure Sting couldn't follow? How much work did he need to do to save up for all of that, assuming he left no later than week ten?

Only five weeks in and it already felt like a miracle every day that went be where someone didn't figure out his secret. If Rogue were a girl, for as bad as his morning sickness was, he was certain that someone would have guessed the truth by this point. It not, then it would certainly be obvious as his stomach grew. He could tell this wasn't one he'd be able to cover up with baggy clothes. Waiting ten weeks in with the situation as it was already felt risky.

He had five more weeks tops to save up as much as he could, get everything ready, and figure out a way to say goodbye without tipping Sting off to his plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know what this fic originally was? A random, context-free snippet I posted on tumblr. It had been a while since I wrote anything to do with mpreg (and, if I remember correctly, came in the middle of a year of not working on anything to do with Fairy Tail at all), and I missed both Stingue stuff and mpreg stuff, so I wrote a random-ass scene. Rogue was suffering from morning sickness and Sting was being an awkwardly supportive boyfriend, but Rogue hadn't told Sting that he was pregnant. As Sting tried to make Rogue feel better, Rogue thought about how Sting had enough on his plate and shouldn't be saddled with a kid, so the pregnancy was to remain a secret.
> 
> It was totally just this random scene I wrote to kill time and scratch an itch, and when someone asked me if I ever planned to write more of it, I outright told them no. So, dude, if you're reading this, I lied. I didn't realize I was lying, but I totally lied. My mind went back to that scene enough times, and finally I decided to build a whole story around it.
> 
> I wanted to copy and paste that scene into this chapter, but it didn't fit perfectly with everything else I'd written, so I ended up using a revised version instead.


	4. Farewell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which drastic measures must be taken to maintain the charade.

Rogue made excuses about not being able to be as active in order to stick around until week ten. By then only his thickest, loosest sweaters sufficed for hiding his stomach. He cursed himself for not having the clairvoyance to get out of shape before becoming pregnant. Had he done so, he might have been able to pass off the bump as blubber for a few for weeks. Maybe even another month or two.

Because he'd been in top physical condition back in June, there was nothing he could say to fully explain away the growing swell across his midsection Especially not after Sting paid such close attention to him at the guild and visited him at home so often, and knew Rogue wasn't eating enough to put on any weight. In fact, Rogue hadn't put on a single pound, despite growing a child inside of him. His doctor made that out to be terrible, and highlighted to Rogue that even if his stomach was getting larger, he was clearly losing weight elsewhere.

Rogue realized that it was by no means good for the baby that he wasn't eating enough, but the weight loss wasn't without its benefits. That none of his clothes could fit quite right anymore made it look less odd if the tip of his baby bump pressed against one of his less loose sweaters. He could pass it off as a wrinkle from the way his clothes hung off of him.

But he was running out of sweaters that could hide the bump, and his doctor had put him on a strict diet to up his nutrition and help him gain weight. (The threat of being hospitalized if he didn't force himself to eat despite his nausea had done the trick there.) Besides, even if fall was around the corner, wearing nothing but thick, baggy sweaters in summer was miserable. The turtleneck he sometimes wore was the worst. It left him sweaty like all the others, and the heat made his nausea worse, but the fabric clinging to his neck on top of that went from a snug feature to a torture device.

He had to leave. Staying was too uncomfortable, and he'd be found out soon if he didn't go. Admitting everything to Sting would be worse than death.

-o-

On the day that Rogue planned to say goodbye to everyone, Sting threw a barbeque party. There was a huge rainstorm rolling in, and the blond argued that they needed to make the most of a dry day while they still could. Rogue might have declined to participate, but then Sting went out of his way to place the grill far enough from the guild so that none of the smells from the bar could overwhelm Rogue. Everyone was dragged out to celebrate… to celebrate…

"What is this for, anyway?" Rogue asked.

"Nothing special. I just thought we should do something before summer ended. You can eat the ribs, right?"

Rogue glanced at the grill, which Minerva permitted no one else to touch as she cooked for the whole guild. The smell of the meat wasn't too hard on him just then, but the barbeque sauce smelled too sweet. "Maybe plain."

"I'll grab you one before she douses it."

"It's not worth losing your hand over."

"Sure it is. You need to eat more." Sting clapped Rogue on the back as he said it, smiling brightly as he danced around the subject of his best friend losing weight from being too sick to keep food down. "Hey! Minerva! I'm grabbing something for Rogue!"

Rogue thought at first that he might watch his dearest friend's final moments, but when Sting reached out to grab a rack of ribs off the grill with on hand, his other went to Minerva's rear. Somehow, to Rogue's horror, this absolved Sting of the sin of messing with the food, and he received only a playful swat instead.

Disgusted, Rogue looked away, and saw Rufus watching him.

"What?"

"Nothing," Rufus said. "I can't recall you making that face for anything other than Sting and the mistress is all. Jealous?"

If it were Orga or a member who didn't know him well, Rogue might have denied it, but Rufus was too perceptive to convince otherwise.

"Am I that obvious?"

"As obvious as Sting, although a little less oblivious."

"Ah. Good to know." So everyone in the guild saw him pinning for someone who wanted someone else. Lovely. But at least now he had no doubts left that he had to leave. If he didn't and it came out that he was pregnant, his crush who frequently got blackout drunk would be a prime suspect for father. (It was already a running joke with the guild that Sting probably had at least one estranged child he didn't know about from all his drunken flings—and a joke Sting hated at that.) Once someone mentioned that suspicion to Sting, only naming a real father would dissuade him from trying to take responsibility for something he was in no way responsible for. Not to mention, if Rogue let slip that those suspicions were true, everyone would know he took advantage of a drunk.

"Do you plan on telling him?" Rufus asked. "You've been antsy all day."

"He likes Minerva."

"Minerva's taken two months to think about it. I think it's fair to say she doesn't like him back."

Rogue, thinking of the playful way Minerva swatted Sting, could only grunt in response. Minerva liked all the attention she received from Sting enough to make Sting feel like he had a chance, and that was too much.

"What are you two talking about?" Sting asked, running up to them with a plate of sauce free ribs.

Before Rogue could think of any fake subject to tell Sting, Rufus answered, "Rogue's love life."

"Oh?" Rogue had never seen Sting look so interested so rapidly, and with Sting's attention span, that was saying something. "I thought there must be somebody you had your eye on. How cute is she? Or is it Orga?"

"Just give me my food."

Perhaps because Rogue looked like someone who hadn't eaten enough lately, or maybe because Sting had seen him throwing up often enough to know what happened half the time when Rogue did eat, this proved a sufficient change of topic. Sting immediately let the subject drop in favor of passing the meat to Rogue and encouraging him to eat as much as possible. To Rogue's embarrassment, even Rufus found him eating enough to be more interesting than teasing him about Sting. Although Rogue had tried to keep official guild information on his health to a simple 'I'm not well and won't be for a while,' it seemed that people had picked up on more details than he liked.

Hopefully, no one noticed anything beyond the nausea and the weight loss.

Sting made Rogue sit on an open stretch of grass with his ribs and a bottle of chilled lemon-lime soda, "Because just looking at you in that getup gives me heat stroke," and went back to get food for himself. When he finally sat down beside Rogue, he also had a hotdog, two salads, and a plate of pasta too large for either of them to eat alone.

Seeing Rogue stare at the pasta in confusion, Sting said, "Minerva whacked me with a spatula for taking too many plates. I didn't even get the chance to tell her some of them were for you. Here. This half of the plate is your pasta." Sting pointed to the half closer to himself.

For the sake of assuring Sting that nothing was amiss, Rogue spun the plate a hundred and eighty degrees. "I think I'm going to eat your serving instead."

"So long as you eat something." Sting tried to laugh at his comment, but fell flat. Seeing that he'd failed so miserably to act merry, he switched tactics. His gaze softened, and he set his own food down before turning to Rogue to say, "This has been rough on you, hasn't it?"

"Kind of. I'm counting down the hours until when the doctor said it will probably be over."

"Who counts something like that in _hours_? Track the weeks or months like a normal person. That way you're dealing with a much smaller number anyway."

Fair enough on all accounts. Rogue had guessed the time he'd go into labor by shooting out exactly forty weeks from when he and Sting got into bed together, but he could easily be days or even weeks early. Not late, of course. He refused to consider the possibility of being pregnant an hour over forty weeks. But he could be early.

If he was still pregnant at forty weeks and one day, he was going in for a c-section.

"Hey… Rogue? If you ever want to come to me for help… I know you don't really like talking about what's going on with you, but I'd be happy to help. You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I do." That was why he couldn't stay.

"So… if you want to tell me anything…?"

 _I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant with your child because I let myself get carried away wanting you when you offered yourself to me drunk, and I'm so,_ so _sorry. I love you. I love you so much and I couldn't bear to lose you to Minerva, and I thought that I might never have another chance to do anything with you and now I've ruined everything. I'm leaving so you won't be saddled down with my own monumental fuck up, and I'll miss you. I'll miss you so much. I don't want to go. I don't want to spend a single day of my life without you there._

"You have barbeque sauce on your cheek," Rogue said.

Picking up on the hint that the subject was still of limits, Sting laughed and said, "It'll be all over me by the time I'm done eating."

"Well, keep it off of me."

"Mm… I _might_ be able to manage that if you eat everything."

Laughing alongside Sting, Rogue picked up the pasta and dug in. It was strange, but for the first time in over a month, he didn't feel like shit.

-o-

The party ended. Rogue excused himself during cleanup, citing his condition as preventing him from being able to help pack everything away. Sting, seeing the opportunity, similarly begged off of helping out by insisting that he walk Rogue home. After all, Rogue probably ate more in that one sitting than he had the whole past week, and someone had to be there for him if it all came back up.

To Rogue's horror, no one even batted an eye at this excuse. He knew he threw up in the doorway, but that only happened once. Other than that, he thought he'd done a decent job of being covert with his symptoms. What if everyone had noticed his stomach growing and merely refrained from commenting on it? Granted, Sting was a blabbermouth and had likely shared all of his worries with anyone who was in earshot, whether they wanted to lend an ear or not. But everyone but Sting knew about his crush on Sting and refrained from mentioning it. Who knew what else they were politely playing dumb on?

Yes. He absolutely had to leave. He smiled for Sting and acted like everything was normal, but Rogue spent the walk home reviewing train routes in his mind. It would rain overnight, so there would be no chance for Sting to follow his scent by the time they realized he was gone. Lucky for Rogue. Otherwise he'd have walked to the next town over before getting on the train.

They stopped at Rogue's front door, Rogue turning to say, "Thank you for bringing me back," without unlocking the house in the hopes that Sting would take the hint.

Sting did. "Yeah. No problem. I gotta get back now, but you take it easy, okay?"

"Sure thing."

Rogue should have ended it there. He'd had a nice last day with Sting, and now he needed to leave without triggering any suspicions. Still, when Sting turned to leave, Rogue couldn't help himself. This was going to be goodbye for at least half a year, and he hadn't said anything close to a farewell. The last thing he wanted was to act atypical right before running away and put Sting on alert, but Rogue stepped forward and hugged Sting tight.

Sting froze. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Rogue lied. "I… I'm glad we met. That's all. I'm so glad you're my friend." More lies. He didn't want Sting as a friend. A friend wasn't enough.

"Yeah… I'm happy we're friends to," Sting said. "Rogue… if anything's troubling you… please, _please_ come to me. We're friends. I'll be there for you no matter what." And that was exactly why Rogue couldn't turn to Sting.

"Thanks," Rogue said, telling one final lie before he let Sting go. "I will."

-o-

Near midnight, it started to rain. Out drinking or not. Sting wasn't likely to wander the streets in a downpour. It was now or never.

Rogue grabbed his bags, already packed, and sent a quick message from his mini-communication lacryma to the doctor to authorize his records be sent to the hospital in the town he was headed to—a northern port city named Kardia, tucked on the other side of the mountains. It was removed enough from most of Fiore that Sting wasn't likely to look there, but it served as the main hub for everyone north of the mountain range, so it was large enough to have a hospital equipped to handle Rogue's 'unique situation'.

After how he'd acted at the door, he expected Sting to ambush him on his way out of the city, demanding to know where he was going and why he was trying to slip away on his own. With each step he took towards the train station, Rogue was certain that Sting was ready to pounce. The walk was agony, terror over being found out making Rogue nauseas during one of the rare moments where his morning sickness gave him peace. He dreaded being caught trying to run away without saying anything even more than he did confessing to his pregnancy and the misdeeds leading up to it.

He made it onto the train without sight or sound of Sting, and Rogue had never been so disappointed in his entire life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love this chapter. Like, a lot.


	5. Sting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sting realizes Rogue ran away.

Sting woke up the day after the barbeque feeling great. It had been a great day, which led to a great night, which gave way to a great morning. Even the rain, still drizzling after the previous night's downpour, wasn't enough to dampen his spirits.

Minerva hadn't torn him apart for flirting. Even teased back when he put himself out there. Rogue ate a full meal for the first time that Sting could remember in weeks and didn't throw it all back up afterward. No one complained about the impromptu event. He wasn't even hung over, which was always something to be proud of himself for after having a fun evening.

He went to the guild in a good mood, humming to himself as we worked. With Rogue taking fewer jobs and instead accepting an offer to be paid to help with all the paperwork Sting hated managing, there was less busywork Sting needed to bother with. Despite that, every day there was _something_ urgent that he found himself needing to handle before Rogue finally showed up. That day, it was a monthly report to the Council that had been misfiled and was now two days overdue, and it took Sting the whole morning.

Lunch came immediately after finishing, then he grabbed a bowl of soup and some crackers and carried them to the back office for Rogue, who Sting still worried might not eat if no one pressured him to.

Rogue wasn't there.

Sting should have known that. Rogue's smell was all over the building, but it wasn't _fresh_ anywhere. He'd just… expected Rogue to be there, so he hadn't even thought to pay attention to Rogue's scent.

Maybe Rogue had gotten sick after Sting brought him home. Maybe the nausea got so bad that he became dehydrated and lost consciousness. Maybe he was dead.

Or maybe Sting had developed a bad habit of worrying too much about Rogue since his friend broke up their team over his health. If that idiot didn't get himself to the hospital on time, Frosch would have run to the neighbors for help. Rogue was in good hands. Most likely, he'd woken up feeling a little worse than normal and decided to stay home. It wouldn't be the first time that summer. Not by a long shot. Sting wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that eating so much when his body hated him eating anything at all was what did Rogue in for the day.

For a second Sting felt guilt for pushing Rogue to eat, but he shook it off. Rogue was losing weight at a time when he needed good nutrition. It would only cause more problems down the road if Rogue kept on passing on food, even if it made him queasy in the moment.

Assuring himself that all was well, Sting left the soup for Rogue to find when he came in, and returned to the main room of the guild. No sooner had he stepped through the door than was he ambushed by Yukino.

"We need to talk."

"You're breaking up with me?"

The joke came out before he could think better of it, and his teasing earned him a playful slap across the face.

"We need to talk about something _serious_ ," Yukino said. "Somewhere private. Now."

Sighing, Sting took Yukino's hand, turned around, and stepped back into the office.

"Rogue didn't come in today?"

"Probably not feeling well. I'm gonna visit him once I'm done with everything for the day."

Yukino nodded her approval. "When you do, be sure not to mention Minerva."

"Why? She and Rogue fighting?" Sting sincerely hoped not. For one, it would be awkward if Minerva agreed to go out with him while she and his best friend didn't get along. For another, being on Minerva's bad side was suicide in good health. Rogue wasn't in any shape to face Minerva's wrath.

"No. It's just… it seems mean. Discouraging him that way. If you aren't interested, you should say so outright, instead of leaving him to hope that you'll stop flirting with her."

Now Sting was lost. "Rogue's been supportive of me and Minerva…"

"Really? You haven't noticed how he always looks like he _wants_ to throw up when you make those puppy dog eyes with her?"

Sting shook his head.

"Oh God." Yukino hand flew over her mouth as she turned scarlet, realizing the situation she had put both herself and Rogue in. "You mean you really don't… Minerva's been faking it, so I thought you were only pretending not to notice that Rogue liked you too. You didn't know Rogue likes you?"

"I'd hope he likes me. We're supposed… to be… friends…" What Yukino was saying clicked properly in Sting's brain.

Rogue liked him. Rogue secretly hated Sting pinning for Minerva even though he pretended to approve. Minerva was only pretending not to notice Sting's affection—which made sense if she sometimes teased back. Rogue _liked_ him.

No… That couldn't be right. Rogue was more forward than that. And he wouldn't feign the support he'd shown Sting in pursuing Minerva. Sting breathed a sigh of relief. Rogue didn't like him that way. Yukino misunderstood the situation. That was all. But what was that about Minerva pretending not to notice him?

"When did Minerva figure out I like her?"

"Probably when you confessed and said that she should kiss you as a birthday present," Yukino said. "Rogue actually drank that night."

That sounded like something Sting would do. He vaguely recalled waking up the day after his birthday with no memory of the previous evening. He'd planned on his way to the bar to confess to Minerva, and Rogue…

Rogue told him he hadn't. Rogue _lied_ to him, and Sting spent the following months thinking Minerva still didn't know. All that time that he could have called Minerva out for knowing he liked her and asked for her affection in return lost because Rogue wasn't so helpful after all.

Shit. Rogue _did_ like him.

Now Sting _really_ wished that Rogue had been honest when it came to Minerva. If he'd known how Rogue felt… well, it might not have stopped Sting from setting his sights on Minerva, but he would have at least gone to someone else for help with his romantic ventures if he knew better. He could only imagine how heart rending it would feel to have Minerva ask him for help getting Orga's attention.

Actually, never mind. Sting was already going through quite a bit of heart rending just hearing that Minerva played dumb with him, so he could guess at how it felt. First refusing to fess up with his condition to Sting, and now this. Just how little did Rogue trust him?

"I… I should go make sure Rogue's doing okay."

"Don't mention anything I said," Yukino insisted. "Really. Please. If Rogue wanted someone to approach you about it, he'd have done it himself. I wouldn't have said anything it I thought you didn't already know. It just… it was so obvious to everyone else, so…"

So maybe Sting wasn't as good a friend as he thought, if he couldn't tell how Rogue felt about him.

-o-

Sting stopped by a street vendor on the way to Rogue's and bought a plate of stir-fried noodles. They looked like they might be a little too greasy for Rogue, but they were the healthiest looking thing that Sting had been able to purchase to-go without taking a massive detour, and Rogue had made it abundantly clear as often as he possibly could that he didn't trust Sting's cooking (maybe with good reason) so buying ingredients and making a meal for Rogue on-site was out of the question.

He regretted the decision as he stood at Rogue's doorstep, waiting for his friend to let him in. He'd already tried knocking ten times, which meant it had taken Rogue a whole minute so far to answer. Dragon Slayer noses being sensitive, and Rogue's stomach also being sensitive as of late, Sting hoped the smell of the noodle and oil hadn't sent Rogue racing to the bathroom.

Finally, after waiting a record breaking five minutes, Sting gave up and produced a hairpin from his pocket. Lock picking wasn't his forte, but he knew how to open Rogue's door. For as often as Rogue melded with the shadows to break into Sting's house, Sting thought it was only fair that he be able to let himself into Rogue's as well. Rogue hadn't even been able to argue that one when Sting pointed out the double standard.

They both had keys, of course, but he could pick a lock and Rogue's neighbors knew he was welcome, and as long as he was sober it was more fun to use the hairpin.

Once inside, Sting dropped the noodles off at the kitchen counter before calling out for Rogue.

He heard no vomiting. No response back either. When he let himself upstairs, he couldn't hear any indicator that Rogue was asleep either.

Well, that wasn't so strange. Rogue had gone to see his doctor almost weekly since his diagnosis, so he could easily be at the hospital for another checkup. No need to worry. Aside from worrying about just how often Rogue seemed to need checkups. Hopefully everything with his condition was moving forward the way it was supposed to. For as rough as things already were for Rogue, Sting wasn't sure what they'd do if they reached that point Rogue kept talking about where he'd be back to good health… only for him not to be.

Since a hospital visit meant there was time to cook and hide the evidence that Sting made the food he offered, Sting threw open Rogue's fridge to grab ingredients to make an awesome soup, only to find the fridge not only empty, but unplugged.

But… Hey. Defrosting. That was a thing. Rogue helped Sting defrost his freezer. You totally did that with fridges too. Maybe. Sting wasn't sure. It seemed possible.

In any case, he could still heat up a can from Rogue's pantry. Or he would have been able to, except the pantry was empty too.

Realistically, at this point, some part of Sting already knew what Rogue had done. Most of him, however, refused to believe this. Rogue was his friend. His best friend. They would go to one another for help before doing anything drastic. No matter what Rogue was going through, no matter how he got himself into his current dilemma, he would turn to Sting when he needed to. Absolutely, without a doubt.

Well, maybe a little doubt. If Yukino had told the truth about Rogue liking him, then it wouldn't be surprising if that got in the way of Rogue wanting to take _all_ his issue to Sting.

Regardless, Sting refused to honestly believe that Rogue would run away without a word. Feeling stubborn, Sting grabbed the noodles, sat himself on Rogue's couch, and ate while he waited for his friend to come home from his checkup.

After the food ran out, he switched on Rogue's Lacryma-Vision, but quickly grew bored. Mindlessly watching shows was more Rogue's thing. If Rogue wasn't there to comfort after a bad cold or other such upset, Sting couldn't quite make himself focus. Not that he ever managed to even properly _feign_ interest in the screen, but at least he could snuggle up with Rogue when Rogue was there.

In light of the revelation that Rogue like-liked him, Sting wondered if he should cut back on the snuggling. Seemed like a bit of a tease now. He would miss it, but Yukino was right that he needed not to drag out any hopes Rogue had. Not so long as Sting didn't plan on giving him a shot.

Come night, Sting decided to raid Rogue's pantry and see if there was anything to drink. It was slowly sinking in that Rogue really had run, and that, Sting thought, warranted a drink. Checking for any alcohol only reminded him that Rogue had cleaned out his pantry, which drove the concept home, and Sting could no longer deny that Rogue was gone.

His hand slid down the pantry door as he sank to his knees, mind reeling with the idea that Rogue had _left_. Left without a word, so troubled with the turn his life had taken and unwilling to go to Sting before he resorted to abandoning everything. They were supposed to be friends, and Rogue left.

If Sting hadn't been so stupid, if he'd accepted that right away, there might have been time to… No. The rain would have washed away Rogue's scent, and who knew how long he'd been gone before Sting even came to his house? Did he deliberately leave when the rain came in so he couldn't be followed? How long had he planned this?

What signs had Sting missed? Rogue wasn't one to rush into things. Even if it felt like an emergency to Rogue, he would have spent at least a few days preparing everything before he made a run for it. The only time he ever ran anywhere immediately was when Sting dragged him along on some impromptu adventure. For something as big as running away, he would have likely spent weeks planning everything out. He had to have run too. Otherwise, he'd still at least have food that was easy on the stomach in his kitchen. If he were going on a long enough job that he expected that food to expire, he'd have offered it to other guild members.

There had to have been signs. Hints Sting missed that this would happen. That he needed to push harder for Rogue to open up before his friend was too far out of reach. Even if Rogue hadn't been carefully planning for weeks, even if he'd put his escape together in bits and pieces whenever he thought of running, until one time the thought finally took him when he had an escape all set up, there should have been _some_ indication whenever fleeing crossed Rogue's mind that he needed more help than Sting was offering.

There was the secrecy, sure, but…

Sting swore. Of course! That Rogue had suddenly become so unwilling to confide in him was reason enough to be suspicious. He should have demanded honesty, rather than giving Rogue his space.

Rogue had even stopped letting Sting into his house, no doubt hiding evidence of his preparing to leave. Had he left any hints behind?

Sting scoured the first floor for clues, then went upstairs to search Rogue's room. There he found no hints as to where Rogue had gone. No travel brochures or receipts for hotel bookings, although those were obvious enough clues that Rogue wouldn't be so careless as to leave them behind. What he did find was more things missing. Both Rogue's suitcases, the small one for overnight jobs and the large one for missions that had them stay somewhere a long time, were gone, as was some of Rogue's wardrobe. Not nearly enough clothes for someone who planned to be gone long, but then Sting assumed Rogue was going to buy new clothes soon anyway, with his sudden penchant for three specific sweaters and all.

What space Rogue had saved by leaving clothes behind had been taken up with the rest of his life. All photos had been taken from the walls. The books Sting had given Rogue, knowing that Rogue would never bother to read them but insisting that they were vastly superior to the acted out adaptations Rogue watched, were gone from Rogue's nightstand. Now that Sting thought of it, it probably meant something that Rogue had kept them free of dust despite never cracking the spines. The rainy day funds that Rogue saved under his dresser had been removed. Frosch's entire collection of frog suits and toys was nowhere to be seen.

Rogue had even packed the pillow from his bed, which made Sting feel sick, because that might very well mean his friend was gone for good. Rogue _hated_ hotel pillows and sleeping bags, but always rejected Sting's suggestion to bring something from home. According to him, it wouldn't feel as homey once they returned if he did that. If Rogue planned on coming back at all, it wouldn't be for some time.

Sting was about ready to break down when he finally spotted something that Rogue _had_ left. A note. Not one meant for Sting, clearly, as it was wadded up in the trash, but it was something, and Sting fished it from the waste bin and smoothed it out.

 _I'm so sorry_ , it read. _I wish I could tell you everything, but I couldn't bear for you to hate me._ This had been crossed out. The next line read: _Sting, I regret to leave you one such short notice, but_

It ended there, again crossed out. Someone had struggled an awful lot with writing a proper goodbye letter.

The third and final attempt Rogue wrote before giving up on the letter made it a little further.

_Sting, I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was freeze you out, and it kills me to leave like this. I would have loved to stay with you, but I can't. It wouldn't be fair. My leaving isn't your fault, so please, whatever you might have thought, don't blame yourself. I tried my hardest not to give you any reason to be on alert._

_I will come home eventually. When I do, I hope you can forgive me for this. Although I may never forgive myself for_

Again, it ended without even finishing the sentence.

Forgive himself for what? Running away? Keeping secrets? At least he already felt bad about it. It saved Sting the trouble of making Rogue regret it when he tracked the bastard down.

Shocked as he'd been, and focused on the presence of rain, Sting hadn't thought past the difficulty involved in finding Rogue. Now, he started working out a plan of attack. He had to find Rogue, obviously. His friend was in need. This vague, abandoned note only made him more certain of that.

Besides, Rogue should have been upfront with him about his crush. Sting owed him a proper response. It hurt to know Minerva played dumb so long while letting Sting squirm, and it hurt even worse to know he'd put his friend in a similar position, albeit unintentionally. There as a lot they needed to talk through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine it was hard for Rogue to try and write all those farewell drafts because it was really freaking hard for me and I didn't have half as much emotional investment as him. Any moment where the fact that Rogue is pregnant is mentioned without being explicitly stated, I have to stop and really think about the language used. Does it match up with pregnancy terminology? It wouldn't do to call the pregnancy a disease, for instance. Is it too heavy handed? Rogue can't say "When I'm due" for example, because that's just too obvious. Reading back through, I kept making little tweaks here and there because something seemed too obvious or inappropriate.


	6. I Live Here Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue regrets his decisions but still stands by them.

For Rogue, it was a miserable day.

The midnight downpour hadn't been a good start, even if it made for a nice cover. The night train was cold, and the humidity hung in the air, which only made it all the more unbearable of a trip. As if his motion sickness wasn't enough. Rogue was still wet when he finally reached his destination, but at least it wasn't raining on the other side of the mountain range.

The receptionist at the hotel where he planned to stay until the baby was born took too long finding his reservation. On any other night Rogue might have handled that. Even when he rolled in late, it wasn't hard to put up with an extra half hour or so of waiting. What made it so hard to suffer through was that he was still cold and wet as he waited and waited and waited for his room key.

Rogue was beat by the time he made it to his room. It had been a long day, followed by a long night. Even though the sun would be up soon and he desperately wanted to sleep, he showered first, warming himself as best he could and thoroughly drying off after. It still made his stomach do a flip whenever he remembered the baby bump, but even that wretched detail of his form he made sure to pat down until he felt no dampness as all.

Sleep claimed him within seconds of he and Frosch curling up under the sheets, but it didn't last. The sun was up before long, and brought with it an ungodly light that insisted on disturbing Rogue's rest.

Groaning when the sunlight fell on his eyes, Rogue pulled himself out of bed and drew the curtains. He'd been so tired while it was still dark that he never even considered the window.

"Rogue?" Frosch asked, waking for herself as he jostled the mattress getting back into bed.

"I'm awake."

"When does Sting get here?"

Rogue knew better than to suspect Frosch of deliberately guilting him, so he didn't resent her for that dagger to the heart. "He isn't coming."

"But Rogue and Sting are a team."

"Not right now."

"Why did Rogue stop loving Sting?"

"I didn't." So even Frosch had noticed. That made Rogue wonder if Sting had played dumb the same way Minerva did, but the thought was too depressing, and Rogue forced it aside. "Back to sleep, Frosch. We had a long night."

-o-

At noon Rogue woke again, this time forced out of bed by the urge to vomit. He crouched over the toilet, waiting for breakfast to come up for several minutes before realizing that he hadn't eaten since at all yet that day.

Once the nausea settled down to a more bearable level, Rogue got up and set about unpacking. There was a kitchenette, and he set a pan out to heat up soup before pulling the photos from his suitcase to set up around the room. It felt a little masochistic to set out pictures of himself and Sting, but he probably deserved that punishment for how he got himself into such a wretched predicament in the first place. Besides, even if it hurt to think of how he'd run away, how betrayed Sting would feel when he realized, and how lonely it would get with only him and Frosch, it still made Rogue smile to see those memories of him and Sting happy together.

The soup finished heating up, and Rogue split the can with Frosch. It was meant to be a single person's serving, but her little stomach was fine with what he gave her, and his rebellious stomach barely tolerated what all he did eat.

Hopefully his new doctor hadn't been notified about his nutrition problems. For as much as he understood the importance of a healthy diet, especially when he had to make sure Sting's child was healthy, it was hard for Rogue to try and eat at much as he was supposed to. Never mind the fact that he threw up half of what he got down. The nausea destroyed his appetite and made almost everything he ate taste unappealing. Getting food down in the first place required an excessive level of mental coaxing.

"Why isn't Sting coming?" Frosch asked.

"This isn't his problem."

"Fro doesn't think so," Frosch said, which Rogue had never heard her say before. "Fro heard Sting's name night after night. Rogue loves Sting, right? The thing that's wrong with Rogue is because Rogue loves Sting, but Sting can't say he loves Rogue back if he isn't here."

"Sting likes Minerva anyway," Rogue said. "He wouldn't say he loves me whether he'd come or not."

Frosch looked down at her paws, eyes growing wet. "Sting doesn't love Rogue?"

Not wanting Frosch to cry, Rogue patted her head and tried to downplay the source of his own wretched heartache. "Sting and I are still good friends. He just doesn't want the same kind of relationship I do. That's all."

"But Rogue loves Sting, so Sting should love Rogue back."

"It doesn't always work that way."

"It should!"

"It should," Rogue agreed, "but it doesn't. Sting wanted someone else, so I need to give up on him."

Those tears of Frosch's that Rogue had tried to stop broke free. "Is that why Sting couldn't come along? Will Fro never see Sting and Lector again."

"That's not why we left, and we'll go home eventually. You'll see them again, I promise. Here." Rogue held his arms out.

Frosch set her mug of soup down and ran into Rogue's embrace, crying into his sweater. He held her, letting her cry until she'd run out of tears.

At this point he'd hoped that she might forget about such inconvenient details as the reason they had to flee, but once Frosch had cried herself out she looked up at him and asked, "Why did we have to run away?"

The idea of confessing fully to his misdoings still terrified Rogue, and it was likely to all go over Frosch's head anyway. Rather than give her the full story, Rogue took her paw and placed it on his stomach, telling her, "You're going to be somebody's big sister soon."

"Rogue is pregnant?" Frosch asked. The detail of Rogue being a boy, apparently, was irrelevant to her. "Is the baby okay? Rogue's been sick."

"It's just pregnancy symptoms," Rogue assured her, glossing over details like his morning sickness being severe enough that he'd nearly been hospitalized. "The baby will be fine. I'll make sure of it." Even if that meant he had to actually make himself eat something else.

Frosch lifted Rogue's sweater up to better feel the small baby bump beneath it, and had she been anyone else, Rogue would have smacked her across the room for that. Because she was Frosch, he merely bit his lip, blushed, and looked away.

"Is Sting the daddy?"

"Uh!" Rogue scooted away from Frosch. "Why do you ask that?"

Frosch cocked her head in confusion. "You can only make babies when a man and a woman love each other very much. The one Rogue loves is Sting, so who else _could_ it be."

"That… is consistent logic, I suppose, but it doesn't actually take love for someone to become pregnant." Sometimes it just took a lot of alcohol, poor decision making, and sloppy drunken sex with someone who was only demonstrating what they wanted to do with Minerva.

"Then how else are babies made?"

Rogue stared at Frosch, considering the ramifications of teaching her what sex was. Just the thought of her asking to detail the mechanics, why people did it, what made it such a significant form of intimacy…

"Rogue?"

"Come on, Frosch," Rogue said. "We need to get acquainted with the city, if we're going to stay here a while. Let's see what shops we can find nearby."

Frosch frowned, recognizing the diversion tactic for what it was.

"We need to know where we can buy groceries. I'm running low on ginger. That's an important one. It helps keep me from feeling too sick. If it gets too bad, I have to go to the hospital, so food that helps keep me from getting sick is important, I think."

Frosch took the bait. "Fro thinks so too!"

"Glad we agree." Rogue patted Frosch's head. "Let's go."

"Once Rogue has more ginger, we need to have a big dinner. Sting will worry otherwise."

"Yeah." A modest sized meal would look big compared to what they'd just eaten, and he might be able to manage that. That would make the doctor happy too.

-o-

While dinner cooked, Rogue looked over his finances again. If he pinched every penny and had no major incidents, he might make it until the baby was born. If only medical fees were cut. If he'd submitted his health records to the guild, then they would have paid a portion of his hospital bills. That system had been in place even during Genma's reign, since you could get injured even while strong, and inadequate care afterward could reduce you to… well… far below his standards.

Naturally, getting financial support from the guild wasn't an option. Sending those records to the guild meant they'd get into Sting's hands. Even if Rogue was careful to make sure he was the one who processed his own request, Sting wasn't so inattentive a guildmaster that he would ignore that a member was so ill that they needed guild support. He'd see that the guild way paying the hospital, check the records, and then it would be all over. Even if Sting was oblivious to Rogue's affection, others had seen it clear as day, and if Sting let slip that Rogue was pregnant, it wouldn't have taken long for anyone to guess who the father was. Frosch didn't even know what sex was, and her first guess was right on the mark.

Really, it was strange that Sting hadn't nagged Rogue about taking that support. No doubt he would have liked to get a hold of Rogue's medical records as much as he'd have liked to see Rogue getting help. Sting had never taken well to secrets. Once, before he learned to pick Rogue's lock, he'd broken a window to get in and learn what present Rogue bought him for Christmas. (Rogue always bought presents the night before now, although he had appreciated that Sting included a replacement window under the tree for him.) For Sting to be so patient and understanding when Rogue kept a health issue major enough to warrant breaking up their team was downright eerie.

The timer went off, drawing Rogue from his thoughts, and he dished up dinner for himself and Frosch. A rice dish with beef and sweetened broth. He'd added a few vegetables the recipe didn't list in order to satisfy his doctor's nutrition regiment, cooking them until they were nice and soft. He would fall short on what all he was supposed to eat for the day, but so long as he didn't need to throw up during the middle of the night, at least he managed a proper dinner.

Still, when he budgeted, he hadn't expected three square meals a day. If his morning sickness settled down soon like he'd been told it ought to, then he'd be able to eat more, and he _needed_ to eat more. Which meant he might not have enough to make it to term after all. Not to mention that he would be broke while busy looking after a newborn either way. Assuming Sting wasn't too mad with him for running, there was only one person Rogue thought he could count on for babysitting after being gone half the year, and that happened to be the person who he ran away to spare from having to raise a kid.

He sneezed, rubbing his nose and hoping that the horrible, rainy night hadn't predisposed him to a cold. It already looked like he'd have to find work in order to prepared for when the baby arrived. Prematurely spending some of that money that needed to last him until the baby came because he went and got himself sick would only make the situation worse.

"Rogue should sleep," Frosch said.

"Dinner first."

This Frosch considered to be a reasonable priority, and she climbed up onto the hotel desk while Rogue dished up. Afterward Rogue went to shower, in part because that would keep him close to the toilet if he suddenly had to throw up. Once clean and dry, he stepped out of the bathroom.

Then he froze.

The pictures of himself with Sting, which were meant to give him comfort, watched him from all directions. That was his best friend. The one he loved. The one he took advantage of and then ran away from without a word. In the end, Rogue hadn't even been able to leave a proper goodbye note.

He fell to his knees, the full impact of what he'd done finally hitting him. If Sting still cared for him at all when he returned, he wouldn't deserved it. Even before he ran, he hadn't deserved what kindness he'd been shown. He didn't even deserve to carry Sting's child. The only thing he deserved was the wretchedness he felt from his symptoms, and to have Sting turn on him. It would serve him right to come home with a baby in his arms, only to have Sting push him away. Rogue could expect nothing less. Not after how he'd pushed Sting away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone was wondering why I'm posting these so fast, it's because I'm currently writing chapter 21 and have written 4 chapters since the start of the month, and while I don't like daily updates/multiple updates a day and don't mind having a buffer so I can keep posting if I get writers block, I don't need three months worth of buffer. Also I like logging onto e-mail and seeing notices from people liking this story. So there you have it.


	7. Gajeel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gajeel shows up.  
> (No, it's not spoilers because he's already listed in the tags.)

All in all, Rogue thought he could have done worse. It took him a few weeks to find work, but he had enough money to last him through that time easy, and the job was a pleasant one. Working at the book store wasn't his dream job. In fact, he'd been pretty happy working at Sabertooth. His options, however, were a shipping warehouse or the bookstore, and the bookstore owner was willing to spare Rogue any work that involved too much heavy lifting when he disclosed his condition. Granted, he needed a note from his new doctor to verify that he was indeed pregnant, and it had been embarrassing to explain, but once she believed him the storeowner was eager to help. Rogue had been lucky to interview with someone who had recently had a child herself.

He'd faked knowing more about books that he did, parroting complaints or praise he'd heard Sting give to whatever he was reading when asked about his interest in literature. That he could hardly focus when a book was placed in his hands was a detail he omitted, although he did confess that the child's father—who was tragically unable to be there with him—was a much more avid reader.

Working in the warehouse would have been nothing but manual labor, which was exactly what his doctor didn't want him to do. Especially not when they were already worried about his nutrition already having a negative impact on the baby's development. Rogue couldn't afford to take any more risks with Sting's baby. He didn't want his doctor to scold him again either.

As a reward for securing a decent job, since his nausea wasn't too awful at the time, Rogue treated himself to an ice cream cone. It was hot out. Rogue was sweating even though he'd replaced his sweaters with lighter, looser shirts meant for men who were rounding out without a pregnancy to excuse their size. Besides, he wanted sugar.

He and Frosch sat on a bench overlooking the port as they licked their cones. With the sea breeze blowing towards them and Rogue's mind focused on what explanation he'd give Sting for running off and returning with a baby, as well as how long to wait after having the baby before going home now that he could afford to stay away longer, he never noticed anyone sneaking up behind him.

"Hey." A thick arm fell over Rogue's shoulders. "Fancy seein' you all the way out here. I take it the blond bastard is nearby?"

From that Rogue took it that Sting hadn't reported his disappearance to anyone outside the guild yet. Still, word would get out sooner or later, so Rogue couldn't play it off as though everything was normal and risk having anyone telling Sting where they'd seen him once they found out he was missing. Instead, he smiled up at Gajeel and said, "I'm here on my own. If you would consider not mentioning seeing me to Sting, I would appreciate that. I don't really want him to be 'nearby' right now."

"Why not?" Gajeel asked, dropping down onto the bench beside Rogue.

Rogue wracked his brain for a reason. "I suppose you could say we're fighting. We split our team up a while ago."

There. If that got back to Sting, he could think Gajeel misunderstood in connecting their 'fight' to the team splitting, and he could wonder what he did to make Rogue upset rather than outright deny that anything came between them. It was perfect. Manipulative, and every bit as cruel to Sting as running away without a word had been, but it served its purpose perfectly. Rogue was satisfied with the answer, at least on a practical level.

Until Gajeel spoke, at least.

"Why're you two fighing? Cuzz you got pregnant and had to stop takin' work?"

Rogue squeaked, one hand covering his stomach as he turned to face Gajeel fully. "H-how—"

"Scent." Gajeel tapped his nose. "Lived in a rough neighborhood during my Phantom days. Lotsa young girls with babies on the way and no father in the picture. Those chemical shifts in the body leave some signs, and you learn to pick up on them."

Rogue was grateful for Gajeel, indicating that it was a smell you had to be _familiar_ with. He and Sting rarely crossed paths with pregnant women, much less lived near a great many. There was also the protection in that most people wouldn't guess a man was pregnant, even if that hadn't stopped Gajeel.

"So who'd you bone that Sting didn't want you to? Or did you get mad because you have no idea who the dad is and he got judgmental about it?"

"I know who the father is! Do you even… you know I'm a guy, right?"

"Yeah, but you smelled pregnant, and you didn't deny it when I asked. 'Fact, you pretty much confirmed it right there. So, who is it? Orga? He looked like he'd be a good one to have on top of you, if you don't mind that face. Can't see Sting gettin' protective over him, though. Did he not like that _you_ were sleeping around? He seems like the type to have a different lady in his bed every night, so that'd be pretty hypocritical of him. _Does_ he have lot of lady friends?"

Unable to contain his irritation, Rogue smacked Gajeel before snapping, "Sting doesn't know about any of this, okay? And don't you dare tell him."

Gajeel grabbed Rogue by the collar and pulled him closer, raising a fist. "You think that warranted hittin' me?"

"Rogue isn't supposed to fight," Frosch told Gajeel. "The doctor says he could hurt the baby."

"He started it!"

"What are you, four?" Rogue asked.

Growling, Gajeel released his shirt. "Fine. Whatever. If you don't want Sting to know, then he's the dad, right?"

Unwilling to confirm that, Rogue looked away and resumed eating his ice cream.

"Okay. So lemme see if I've got this right. Sting knocked you up, doesn't know your pregnant, and you ran away."

Whoever invented chocolate was a genius. Chocolate ice cream was so delicious. Rogue resolved to go back for another cone one he'd finished off the one in his hand.

"Hey! Don't ignore me you shady bastard!"

Focusing his gaze as intently as he could on a boat that was in the opposite direction of Gajeel, Rogue said, "You have my number, alright? I ran so Sting wouldn't learn he's going to be a father?"

"Uh-huh. How exactly did that even happen?"

"Something to do with magic. The doctor didn't get all that elaborate with explaining it to me."

"Seems like you'd hear about stuff like this more often, if it's a magic mishap."

"Apparently there's a precedent, but they're not allowed to report on it unless the patient comes out with the story."

"Huh. Go figure. You gonna finish that?" Gajeel pointed to Rogue's ice cream, prompting Rogue to make a show of continuing to eat it. "Aw, c'mon. That stuff is probably bad for the baby."

"Anything that stays down is good."

"Rogue is sick all the time," Frosch added. Rogue wished she hadn't added it, but what was done was done.

"Sick sick? Or just morning sickness?"

Rogue laughed. " _Just_ morning sickness. You say that like it isn't hell on earth."

"So you got it bad, huh? Anyway, wouldn't Sting… I don't know… _guess?_ He has to know he slept with you. If you start smellin' funny, throw up everywhere, run away, and then come back with a baby, he's gonna figure out what happened. Unless you see as much action as he does, there can't be too many candidates for daddy."

"S-Sting doesn't sleep around!" Rogue snapped. Maybe Sting had slept with other people, when sufficiently intoxicated, but Rogue was _usually_ there to look out for him. Surely Sting couldn't have had too many drunken flings. No more than one or two a season. At least as of the past year, when a mugging made Rogue realize that Sting's drinking problem was worse than he and Lector made it out to be, and an escort would be a good idea. And it wasn't like you gained that much experience from black-out drunk sex anyway… even if Gajeel had never hinted at anything like that. "Besides, he doesn't even remember that we… um… I mean… He's too busy flirting with Minerva to take an interest in anyone else anyway!"

"Sucks to be you, then. I take it you scored him drunk?"

Rogue flinched and looked down at his feet, waiting for Gajeel to tear him a new one for being such a terrible person.

"Answer, Shady. Why wouldn't he remember?"

"It… It's not any of your business."

"It's gonna be my business if you don't want me telling Sting where you're hiding."

Rogue's grip on his ice cream tightened so hard that the cone cracked, and he decided to eat what was left of it before it melted all over his hand rather than deal with Gajeel.

Gajeel, to his annoyance, waited for him to finish scarfing the ice cream down. So what did he do? Admit that he was human garbage? Let Gajeel run back to Sting? He'd _just_ gotten a job, and he hadn't thought to setup a backup hideaway. Gajeel already suspected him anyway.

The second the cone ran out, Gajeel asked, "Well?"

"I… Y-yeah. We were out drinking, and—"

"Thought so."

Rogue folded his hands in his lap and waited for Gajeel to scold him.

"So? How far have you gotten so far? You're already wearing that baggy crap, so I'm betting you've got a belly to ya."

"Th-that's it?" Rogue asked. "I took advantage of Sting. You don't care about that?"

Gajeel shrugged. "Well, it's not like Sting's my problem. 'Sides, you said you were _both_ drinking, right? Hard to be the one taking advantage of a drunk when you're too drunk to use your wits too."

"Oh." Rogue hadn't even thought of it that way. He'd had significantly less than Sting, and he hadn't been too drunk to remember the morning after, but he _had_ been tipsy. Sting had built up a higher alcohol tolerance too, so having had less to drink didn't make him _not_ drunk. If he'd been sober, Rogue would never have slept with Sting in that state.

On the other hand, Rogue had been close enough to sober to realize that Sting was so much more drunk than him.

"So you gonna let me see your stomach or not?"

"Of course not!"

"Rogue always turns super red when Fro touches it," Frosch said, which was again something Rogue wished she hadn't piped up to say.

"Eh? That big already?"

"I'm not big!" Rogue insisted. "I just… Of course it would be embarrassing! I'm a _pregnant guy_!"

"Super embarrassing," Gajeel said. "So embarrassing you shout it for the whole street to hear."

"H-huh?" Rogue looked around, eyes widening in horror as he saw all the pedestrians staring at him. A couple stood not too far off, wrapped around one another and clearly having been making out before they broke off to gawk.

Seeing Rogue turn red, eyes watering from humiliation, Gajeel laughed and said a little louder than he really needed to, "No more booze for you before sundown, if you really bought into a stupid prank like that."

The crowd snickered and resumed what it had been doing before. Drunken babble was silly, but not worth more than a passing glance.

Hanging his head in shame, Rogue mumbled, "Thanks for the cover-up."

"Might want to keep wearing baggy shit," Gajeel suggested. "Spare yourself some rumors over your stomach. Maybe put on some weight if you're really determined to hide it."

Rogue nodded, head still hung. He didn't exactly want to get fat, and after everything else he wasn't about to admit to Gajeel that he was struggling just keep his weight from going _down_ , but Gajeel did have something of a point. He had to tell his boss, but the fewer looks he got for being pregnant, the less likely someone was to pay attention to him, and thus recognize him. Fewer people recognizing him meant fewer chances for news of his whereabouts getting back to Sting. Really, anything he could do to cut down on recognition would be a good idea.

"Do you think I should cut my hair?" Rogue asked.

"No idea where that question came from," Gajeel said. "If you're tired of your look, no one's stoppin' you from changing it."

He wasn't tired of his hair, but if it stopped people from recognizing him… Would it stop people from recognizing him…?

"Well, whatever." Gajeel pushed himself up off the bench. "You answered my questions, so I guess I'll keep your secret for now. See you 'round."

He walked off then, waving without turning back to see Rogue wave as well.

Once Gajeel turned down a street and was out of sight, Rogue let his hand fall, and stared blankly towards the water. In a way, it felt nice to confess his situation to someone he knew. He couldn't explain the relationship drama to his boss, and he couldn't talk about the drama _or_ his pregnancy with Sting—obviously. Gajeel, however, was someone who could understand the details of Rogue's situation, and wasn't likely to blab his secret to certain blonds. Aside from the part where he'd scarfed down his cone without savoring it, Rogue felt he came out of that encounter better off than he'd been before.

He glanced down at his empty hand, feeling remorse for the one major loss from the past few minutes. Maybe he would buy a second cone. He could afford a little frivolous spending now, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent a lot of time before posting this fic wondering how people would handle the subject of drunken consent. Rogue spends a lot of time in the "It's rape" camp despite his conversation with Gajeel, while Gajeel is staunchly in the "you're still responsible for yourself if you chose to drink" camp. And I've seen too many people who look at an opinion of a character's and assume that it must be something the author thinks. (I have another mpreg idea I've been sitting on that actually has some to-do with the subject of abortion. Because I apparently now like to tackle hot-button issues via mpreg. And I'm even less thrilled about the possibility of people lashing out at me for what they assume my stance is with that one.)
> 
> On the other hand, I've also seen far too many people who are very blatantly using their characters as mouthpieces to espouse their views, sometimes to such detriment where actual storytelling and character development are involved that I've had to stop following their work. So maybe there's a reason that people start to assume that writers only ever make their characters agree with them.


	8. Concern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sting turns to Fairy Tail for help

Gajeel could tell the direction his day was about a take a solid half an hour before anyone else picked up the first hint. It probably helped that he'd been looking for signs all week, ever since his chance encounter with Rogue. In fact, he'd so thoroughly expected to see Sting that he'd snuck into a restaurant immediately after that encounter to scrub Rogue's scent off of himself. It was less a surprise to Gajeel that Sting was in Magnolia and more a surprise that it took him a whole freaking week to show up.

Gajeel hadn't thought to ask when he saw Rogue how long it had been since he bolted, but the Rogue he knew didn't half-ass things. The little bump that could be seen even through that already baggy shirt meant that Rogue had likely been gone long enough for his stomach to become visible outside of his clothes. Probably a week of two, meaning it took nearly a whole month for Sting to come to Fairy Tail looking for him.

He wasn't the only one to catch Sting's scent in advance. Natsu noticed it too, making a passing comment about how he was having trouble picking up Rogue's scent as well before going back to bickering with Gray. Gajeel was still the only one who had any reasonable guess as to why Sting might be in town, much less why he was in town alone, and thus the only one who had time to prepare. Not that anyone else _needed_ to brace themselves for Sting's arrival. To the best of Gajeel's knowledge, he was the only one there who knew where Rogue was. Even Pantherlily hadn't been with him at the time, and as a man of his word, Gajeel hadn't told the exceed about his encounter.

When Sting threw open the doors, looking like he might burst into tears at any second, Gajeel felt like he'd had no time at all to prepare for the situation.

"I wasn't expecting to see _you_ today, Sting," Makarov said, smiling cheerfully, as if he couldn't see how distraught their visitor was. "To what do we owe this surprise? If this is about that bet from the last guildmaster's meeting—"

"Have you seen Rogue anywhere?" Sting asked.

"Rogue?" Conversations around the room dropped one by one as people took an interest in the guildmasters' discussion. "I haven't heard anything about him here in Magnolia. Why? Is something wrong?"

"He's missing."

Conversation ceased, all eyes now on Sting.

"For how long?" Makarov asked, dropping all friendly airs now that the subject was clearly a serious one. "Did this happen on a job? Can you think of anyone you two might have made an enemy of recently? A dark guild, perhaps?"

Sting shook his head. "Rogue's been... He wasn't in the best of health. He was practically off active duty, and we hadn't taken work together for a while before he left. I offered to pay him for help with administrative work, so he hadn't even gone on any job at all for at least the last weak I saw him."

"When he left," Makarov repeated, so focused on the conversation that he didn't seem to notice Mira get up and walk over to Sting. Then again, Sting didn't seem to notice Mira pushing him all the way through the door and into a bar stool beside Makarov. "So you don't think that Rogue was abducted?"

"Not unless whoever abducted him packed two suitcases with his and Frosch's clothes, prized possessions, favorite comfort items, and any food that would keep over a long trip," Sting deadpanned.

"Ah…"

Slumping in his seat, eyes going down to the hands Sting had folded in his lap, he confessed, "Rogue and I weren't really talking before he vanished. I mean… I was with him plenty, and we talked a lot, but it was obvious we were avoiding certain subjects. He became secretive with me all of a sudden, and I never pressed him about it. I knew he didn't feel good, and I thought that he might have been embarrassed about his situation. Or that he just _really_ didn't feel good, and didn't want to have to discuss it because it meant thinking about it. It was weird for him to try to keep me in the dark like that, but I figured he'd tell me when he was ready."

"But he ran away instead. By situation, I assume you mean his health?"

"Yeah. He'd been seeing this doctor constantly, but he refused to talk about it. And he went and.. um… That is…" Sting blushed, tried to bring himself to look back up at Makarov, then turned to face Mira instead, as if it was somehow less embarrassing to share with her. "We were… kind of fighting over this girl. He wasn't interested in her, but he didn't really like me with her and… I mean, I didn't _know_ , but it turned out he'd said some things to kind of sabotage… W-well, not quite _sabotage_ but… hinder, maybe. He pretended he was fine with me liking her but was secretly completely unhelpful."

"Why?" Mira asked, since she was the one Sting was looking at.

"I don't know!"

The increasing fury of Sting's blush said otherwise, but then Gajeel already knew that Sting and Rogue fucked, so it wasn't too hard to guess why Rogue didn't approve of Sting's romantic pursuits. Who had Rogue complained that Sting was too busy with? Minerva? Gajeel couldn't for the life of him figure out why anyone would go for a dangerous psychopath like Minerva when someone like Rogue was pinning for them. Yukino, maybe, but not Minerva.

So Sting knew that Rogue liked him? Interesting. Rogue was certain that he didn't know they boned, but Gajeel found himself wanting to verify that. What was a good, subtle way to ask someone in front of a huge audience about whether or not they slept with their best friend without letting on that the best friend already confirmed that it happened?

Against Gajeel's better judgment, he slid into the seat next to Sting. "You _reeealllly_ don't know?"

"O-o-of course not!"

" 'Cuzz it's awfully hard to help with a missing person case when you don't even know what motivated them to bolt."

"Gajeel's right," Makarov said. "If you want us to have the best odds of success with finding Rogue, it would help to let us know any relevant information. When did Rogue go missing? What was his motive? Why was he secretly fighting with you over Minerva?"

"We weren't… I mean… maybe fighting isn't the best way of putting it. It was more like a disagreement that he kept to himself—and why he did that is his secret to share. I mean… I know why, but I wasn't really supposed to know, I don't think. Anyway, I _do_ think that him leaving had more to do with his health. He already hid all the details of his condition from the guild. He wouldn't even submit a form requesting medical aid, and I _know_ it's because he didn't want anyone in the guild to see what treatment he was receiving. We only know what we observed, and if he was worried we noticed too much, I thought maybe he'd leave to prevent that. As for when… during the middle of the night, maybe? He'd been out sick often, so I didn't think much of it when he didn't show up the day he vanished. I only stopped by his place after I was done with work, and by that point he was long gone. It rained the night before, so it would have been an ideal time to make a run for it. There would be no scent for me to follow."

"You think that's how he did it?" Makarov asked.

"That kind of getaway has Rogue written all over it. He thinks things through. Way more than I do. A time when I wouldn't think to stop him even if I was up at the time and saw him leaving, and when there would be no trail for when I finally went looking for him. He'd jump on that."

"Why wouldn't you think to stop him during the night?" Mira asked. Her tone suggested it was an innocent question. Sting's blush suggested that the answer wasn't so innocent.

"Too busy with your lady of the evening?" Gajeel asked.

"No! I don't do that! I mean…"

"You never woke up with a stranger in your bed?" Gajeel asked.

"W-well…" Rogue's issue with Sting and Minerva was a secret not to be shared, but Sting's own issues, it seemed, were fair game. "Maybe… Rogue is usually there to keep an eye on me when I drink too much, but there have been a few occasions where I've woken up with someone I don't recognize. I wasn't drinking the night Rogue vanished, but he had every reason to think I would be. There had been a party earlier in the day, so…"

God, it was hilarious how red Sting's cheeks were while he admitted to that. Gajeel imagined that Sting's own guild already knew about his vices. If you regularly drank yourself into such a state that you woke up in bed with a perfect stranger on the _occasions_ that your friend wasn't looking out for you, so regularly that people just assumed you would be wasted on a day that some social event occurred, then it would be hard to hide your issues from the people who had so many opportunities to witness them. Admitting it to people who weren't privy, however, was something Sting clearly didn't like.

He must have really been worried about Rogue, Gajeel thought, to confess to something he was so embarrassed to admit just because it gave one tiny little bit of clarification to a detail that might or might not help with finding his friend.

"So basically Rogue slipped away because you were wasted," Gajeel said.

"I was sober! Rogue… Rogue was doing better that day than he had in the weeks leading up, so I hadn't thought there was anything to worry about. Not that night, at least."

"And you're certain he left on his own?" Makarov verified. "If there were no signs—"

"Until he's found, I guess there's no knowing for certain, but he was being secretive for _weeks_ , and he left under circumstances that it made more sense for him to think of than a kidnapper would have. I found a letter he'd thrown out that made it sound like he left of his own accord."

This was the sort of thing that a brighter individual might have mentioned before giving an in depth explanation of how their drinking problem might factor into a potential decision, but at least Sting had the sense to produce the letter without being asked.

Makarov read over it, Mira leaning over his shoulder to take note as well, then folded the letter and returned it to Sting. "It sounds like he'll come back on his own eventually."

"His health was… I don't think he should be on his own in his condition," Sting said. "Besides… I need to talk to him as soon as possible. It's kind of… It's important."

"We'll let you know if we see him," Mira promised. "And Sting?"

"Yeah?"

"I've already served Cana twelve drinks today. This is the last guild that will think anything of it if you like to let loose after work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, when I started writing this, I didn't expect Gajeel to be a major character. I just needed some reason for Rogue to still have contact with other existing characters, and since he looks up to Gajeel, that's who I ended up with. He managed to score a lot of scenes out of that, because I didn't stop to think about what giving him that role meant until I was already pleased with his first scene. He's not a character I normally work with, but everyone who commented seemed to be pleased with him.


	9. Operation Coax Him Home: Failed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gajeel is fed up with Sting but doesn't want to go back on his promise to Rogue.

There was no way in hell Rogue could have hidden his pregnancy if he stayed at the guild. Two months after Gajeel's visit, the bump that had sort of been visible beneath Rogue's shirt grew to the point that he looked like he'd swallowed a large watermelon, and during his ultrasound he made the technician verify that he absolutely wasn't having twins. There was no hiding it with baggy clothes. Even though Rogue bought the loosest sweaters and hoodies he could find—which finally stopped feeling suffocating in the mid-November air—everything he bought stretched tight around his stomach. That, or they were meant for the morbidly obese, and they covered his stomach while the sleeves hung wide enough to fit his head and a shoulder through.

Were his earnings not going to baby supplies and a storage unit to hold them (since he could only guess at how the hotel manager would feel it he set up a crib in the room he was staying in), Rogue might have hired a tailor to make him something better sized for him, but as a simple matter of physics, his belly could not be covered up. Even the loosest fabric would still give away the protrusion, and he was only halfway through his pregnancy.

But at least no one from Sabertooth had come after him. Rogue hadn't even seen Gajeel in the past couple months. If anyone even recognized him as one of the guys who fought in the Grand Magic Games, they never called out to him. And while Rogue didn't cut his hair, he did comb it back so as to look less like himself. As for hiding his stomach, Rogue took to only being out and about in the dark. He sat behind the checkout counter or took inventory of new shipments during work hours, and only walked to and from work before sunup, and after sun down. One specific store near his hotel became his go-to spot for groceries, and the cashiers their obligingly refrained from commenting on his ever increasing waistband. Only the clerk at the store where he purchased clothes and the furniture salesman he picked up a crib from had made remarks about how it looked like he was pregnant, rather than his wife.

Sooner or later, the clerk at the outfitters' would notice that he _was_ the one who was pregnant, but for the time being, Rogue endured the good natured jabs about how he'd taken the whole "sympathy pregnancy" scenario to its logical extreme.

"I don't think anyone's going to guess that you're anything other than a heavy drinker anyway," one of Rogue's coworkers said when he confided to them about his clothes shopping experience. "To be honest, until I see that baby kicking, I'm not entirely convinced your doctor isn't pulling an elaborate hoax."

"I suppose it's possible." No one had shown Rogue the records of other men being pregnant, even if they were supposedly out there to set a precedent for his care. "I wouldn't mind _not_ having to look after a child, but it does nicely explain all my symptoms."

"They say the only for sure way to know you're pregnant is to deliver a baby, and that's when they're talking about women. A person can get sick and puff up like you have without being pregnant."

"Can they?" While the ultrasound where they showed him that he was having a boy made Rogue skeptical, he was interested to hear any explanation for his condition other than pregnancy. He'd much rather have some weird disease that made him fat and nauseas and smell like a pregnant person than be a parent at his age. And a single one at that. He hadn't even confessed to a crush yet, if you didn't want to count the drunken sex with someone he knew wouldn't remember it.

"Yeah. You've never heard of phantom pregnancies? Some ladies become really convinced they're having a kid and actually experience the symptoms, but there's no baby."

"Do the symptoms come before or after they think they're pregnant?" Rogue asked. "It took my doctor some effort to convince me that my symptoms were caused by a pregnancy."

"After, but did you get fat before or after you were became convinced you're pregnant? There's a million explanations for nausea."

Rather than admit that nausea was all he'd noticed before his diagnoses, Rogue sputtered indignantly, then snapped, "I'm not _fat_!"

"Really? What size clothes do you have right now."

A much larger one than he wanted to admit, but Rogue had only recently managed to put on any weight since becoming pregnant, and still wasn't in a place where his doctor was happy with his progress. Unable to contain his irritation, he grabbed a book that had been left at the checkout when someone decided they didn't want it after all and chucked it at his coworker.

-o-

Rogue returned to his hotel room after being fired and counted up his savings, and wasn't pleased to find himself in a worse financial situation than when he'd been hired. Assuming that he would have a source of income throughout the pregnancy, he'd made more purchases in preparation for the baby than he'd initially budgeted for, and without that income, he'd go broke at least a month before he was due.

It did occur to him that he could skip lunch each day and stretch his funds a little further, but after all the trouble he'd had with not being able to eat, preventing himself from eating food now that it would stay down wasn't high on the list of measures Rogue wanted to take. When he thought of the harm he could do to Sting's baby if he deliberately didn't take care of himself, it sounded better to go crawling back to Sabertooth and fess up to his situation.

Seeing Rogue scowl at that thought, Frosch asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No. You don't need to worry."

The consolation came out automatically, and only after he said it did Rogue realize it wasn't a lie. Frosch stood nothing to lose by Rogue having to go home early. She got to see Lector sooner, and wasn't the one who had to admit to everyone that she somehow became pregnant. She wasn't the one who had to face Sting. She wasn't the one anyone would blame for running away without a word, or give grief to for not even succeeding at keeping their predicament a secret by abandoning their comrades.

"But Rogue looks worried, so Fro is worried too."

Rogue smiled at that. "I don't deserve you."

"I-is Fro being sent away? Fro wants to stay with Rogue!"

"I want you to stay with me too," Rogue assured her. "Come on. Let's get…" He paused. After losing his job, knowing that he was short on funds, he couldn't casually treat Frosch to all the goodies she (or, more honestly, he) wanted.

On the other hand, he was either going to find work in time, in which case he could afford the treat, or he was going to have to go back home. Returning one meal earlier didn't make a huge difference.

"Let's get hot cider," Rogue said. "I saw a diner with a seasonal menu. They should still be open."

Frosch glanced outside, where it was dark and scary, then up at Rogue, who was dark but safe. "It's okay?"

"The baby wants cider," Rogue told her. "I might as well buy you some too."

Maybe he could ask while he was there whether or not the café was in need to any extra hands. He'd be happy even to take a job as a dishwasher.

-o-

In the months since Gajeel last saw Rogue, Sting visited Fairy Tail no less than twenty-eight times. The first time it was serious. The next three or four, it was kind of cute that he was so worried. Now it was just annoying. Even Sting didn't think that Rogue was in any certain danger, although, vague as he was, he did press that Rogue probably wasn't in a good place to be on his own.

It was hard to believe Sting had overlooked Rogue for Minerva. Even when Minerva started tagging along, looking increasingly exasperated with each visit, Sting hardly seemed to notice she was there.

Eager to be rid of the idiot, Gajeel hopped on a train and went to see Rogue. Having promised to hold his tongue previously, ratting Rogue out didn't sit right with him. Instead, he hoped to talk Rogue into going back to Sting, or to at least send a letter saying he was fine.

Of course, Gajeel had to make sure Rogue _was_ fine. It had been easy to see last time that the pregnancy had taken a toll on Rogue. In fact… maybe it would have been better of Gajeel to check on Rogue more frequently.

It did occur to Gajeel, at some point, that if Rogue convinced himself that he was a rapist getting his comeuppance and put all the effort he had into running away, he wasn't likely to head home just to please Gajeel. Convincing him that he was an idiot for taking the stance he had might need to come first.

When the train reached the end of the line, because Rogue really had put himself as far away from everything as he could, Gajeel stumbled off the train and sat at the station while he recovered from his motion sickness.

It took a little wandering before Gajeel picked up a fresh trail, and he followed Rogue's scent to a diner one the far side of the city from the ocean. He hovered across the street at first, watching through the window and waiting to see if Rogue would notice him. Rogue did not.

Before going in. Gajeel took stock of Rogue. His cheekbones no longer stood out. In fact, there was a slight roundness to his cheeks. Not enough to really think Rogue let himself go, but enough so that Gajeel could tease that he had. With him casually sipping on a mug of _something_ , Gajeel guessed Rogue was past the morning sickness phase. Last time Gajeel saw him, you could just barely see his stomach beneath his clothes, but Rogue's baby bump had grown enough now that it could be plainly seen. At least, Gajeel could clearly see it knowing to look for it. The window didn't stretch down far enough to see the full thing, and Rogue was leaned forward so the table obscured anyone's view of his stomach (likely deliberately), but Gajeel could glimpse the top of Rogue's stomach, and what of it he saw gave him a good idea of how much it had grown. For all Sting's worries, Rogue seemed to have kept himself in good health.

There was still a downcast edge to Rogue's mannerisms, one that Frosch had picked up on, given the worried looks she cast Rogue constantly. Each time he reached forward and patted her head, she smiled for him, but it never took long for some little gesture of his to bring that worried look back.

Something was wrong. Rogue fared better than Gajeel expected, but something was still wrong.

Rogue's head shot up when Gajeel entered the diner, finally noticing his scent. Gajeel waived to him, completely ignoring a waitress who asked if he was eating by himself, and went to sit in the booth beside Rogue.

Rogue didn't so much scoot over to make room for Gajeel as he was pushed closer to the window, but he took the forced entrance in stride.

"Is something the matter?" Rogue asked.

"You have the world's most annoying teammate, you know that?"

The corner of Rogue's lip twitched up. "I've always suspected as much."

Gajeel clicked his tongue and folded his arms, unimpressed with the reply. "I gave you my word I'd keep your secret, so I'll be blunt. I want you to tell Sting where you are instead'a me."

"No."

The reply came out automatically. Almost hasty. But then Gajeel had expected that.

"What does all this even accomplish, save for a little spared pride?" Gajeel asked. "Blondie doesn't remember you two did it, right? It's not like he'll know he's the dad either way."

"I would prefer they not know I'm the real mom," Rogue said. "Besides, Sting's already come to terms with the fact he could very easily be a father and not know he even slept with the child's mother, and at least some of our guild members picked up on the fact that I like him, so he would be their first guess for people who I slept with."

When he finished saying that, he looked around to make sure no one was staring, no doubt remembering the attention he attracted during his and Gajeel's last talk.

"Quite acting so jumpy. I'll let ya know if you get to loud," Gajeel promised.

"Th-thanks."

"But c'mon. What's the harm in him knowing anyway?"

"Regardless of how drunk I was, Sting had no control over the situation. It wouldn't be fair to him to have to be the father of a child with someone he doesn't even want a married life with."

"Dude, you two were already together around the clock. If he married anyone else, his wife would accuse him of loving you more. Besides, either it's not fair to you to be on your own with a kid either, or else your both at fault for letting yourselves get drunk enough to be that stupid. And if that's the case, Sting's got no right to beg off of the kid. Although you seem pretty stupid even when sober, applying that kind of double standard against yourself."

Rogue's grip on his mug of what smelled like hot cider tightened. "Maybe I just don't want to trouble him because I love him."

"Maybe you need to love yourself a little bit more. Most women either have husband or a parent or _someone_ helpin' them out in your situation, don't they? I know our guild has support funds set aside for stuff like this. Can't imagine Saber wouldn't. At least with Sting calling the shots. Even if it didn't, that's Sting's baby. He's got as much a responsibility to make sure it comes out alright as you do. With everything else you gotta put up with, wouldn't cha prefer to have some sort of support? I mean, no offense, but you looked like you weren't even feedin' yourself properly last time I saw you, and even if Sting doesn't know what exactly's wrong, he thinks the guild should be there with you."

Seeing Rogue's lip tremble, Gajeel suppressed a grin. He was close. Just push a little further, and he'd get Rogue to go back.

"I'll be honest, I don't remember if you got yourself some sorta job out here or saved up before you bolted, but—"

Rogue burst into tears, burying his face in his hands to try and smother the sounds of his sobs. Although Gajeel had seen his fair share of mood swings in the past, this took him entirely by surprise. He was more used to angry screaming at deadbeat dads, not tears over talk about how people _wanted_ to help out. That Frosch burst into tears at the sight of Rogue crying didn't help. Unsure what else to do, he gave anyone staring from a nearby table a dirty look, then reached out to awkwardly pat Rogue's shoulder.

"Um… you okay?"

"I lost my job," Rogue admitted. "I lost my job and I don't have enough saved to stay away from Sabertooth until the baby is born. I can't… I can't face Sting like this. I _can't_. After hiding so much from him and running away, to not even accomplish what I set out to do… I…"

"H-hey. It's alright. There's gotta be… um… something?"

Gajeel stopped himself before he could tell Rogue to look for work elsewhere. The goal was to get Rogue to give up and go home. Besides, if Gajeel didn't know any better, he'd think Rogue was due in a matter of weeks, rather than months. No one who Rogue explained his condition to would hire someone who looked like they would go on maternity leave before they finished training. Giving false hope would be a dick move.

"I just… I know what I did hurt Sting, so I can't treat him that way saying it's to keep him from being tied down with a kid, and then go back and tie him down anyway. After everything that…"

Rogue paused, still crying, and glanced across the table.

"Frosch, why are you crying?"

"Rogue is sad."

Gajeel expected that innocent little reply to warm Rogue's heart and lift his spirits, but it only made Rogue cry harder.

"I don't deserve you."

"D-does that mean Rogue is going to make Fro go away after all?" Frosch asked, which was a dangerous notion for her to have while already in tears.

"No. No one should be separated from anyone," Gajeel said. "You guys need to calm down. Stop crying. L-look, I'll put in the good word for you with Makarov or something, okay? I'll help you find a job. Stop crying, dammit!"

"B-but…" Rogue hiccuped, and tried to rub his eyes dry, only for them to refill with tears. "I can't work for a guild while… W-with Sabertooth I know everything well enough to handle paperwork, but the baby…"

"I'll find you something where you don't have to fight, okay! You can do your shadow sneak thing to spy for the guild or something. Just stop fucking _crying_!"

This was the exact opposite of what Gajeel had intended to accomplish. Now, instead of Rogue eventually needing to return home and face Sting, albeit probably not as fast as Gajeel wanted, he was going to help keep Rogue away indefinitely. Gajeel could only imagine how big a headache it would be to have Sting come around until Rogue felt his baby was old enough to take back to Sabertooth.

Rogue gave Gajeel a faint smile and rubbed his eye again, and this time it took longer to refill. "I th-thiink I could do that. You'll help me? Really?"

"W-well, I said I would, so I gotta."

-o-

From his vantage point outside the diner, Pantherlily watched Gajeel say something that pushed Rogue into tears, then backpedal to try and calm him. He didn't need to hear the conversation to know that Gajeel had not only failed to talk Rogue into going home, but likely offered to help him stay hidden.

Pantherlily shook his head and sighed. Personally, it was no fur off his back if Sting kept coming around. Lector wasn't bad company, and no one ever thought to hold him under suspicions for potentially knowing where Rogue might have gone. He did have to listen to Gajeel complain about Sting though, so there was some secondhand annoyance involved in Sting's visits.

More than stopping Sting from coming to pester Gajeel, Panterlily had wanted to see Rogue return home for his and Sting's sake. If Sting didn't love Rogue, which Pantherlily had a hard time believing when the blond circled through dozens of guilds day after day to see if there was any signs of him, then he at least cared for Rogue deeply. Even if Rogue wouldn't have his feelings returned, he would be better off during his pregnancy surrounded by friends who cared for his wellbeing than he would in a strange city with only Frosch for companionship.

It would have been for the best, Pantherlily realized, if he went in with Gajeel. He wasn't the best with tears either, and he hadn't wanted to overwhelm Rogue with too many people coming to badger him, but Gajeel would have fared better with backup. He realized that now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I strongly considered cutting the bit with Pantherlily, except it does still serve a purpose of explaining that Pantherlily is now in on what's going on. Originally I was going to have Pantherlily have his own confrontation with Lector, but then I was like "Nah. It's slightly too early for anyone else to find out about all this."


	10. Busted

Sting wasn't completely dense. He knew his antics were getting on the nerves of half the guilds in Fiore. On the occasions that he returned to Sabertooth to see if Rogue came home on his own, Rufus begged him to please stay put and do his job, but Sting couldn't. He'd never been able to focus well on the daily paper grind that came with his position, and with Rogue gone he could focus on nothing but searching for his friend.

At some point, Minerva had joined him on his rounds to check and see if anyone had leads, and Sting didn't know how to handle that. Rogue ran away because of Minerva, Sting was sure. As guildmaster, he had to be good to his members, especially ones who previously ran away and tried to become demons. He didn't want to run Minerva off. But if Rogue did leave because he couldn't handle watching Minerva get all the affection he wanted, then how likely would Rogue be to believe Sting was sorry for ignoring him if Minerva came along?

Sting spent most of his days feeling nauseas. While that was helped by the constant train rides between different places to check for Rogue, most of it was from worry and regret. He'd known Rogue wasn't in a good place, both physically and mentally. He should have done more. He should have pushed harder to get Rogue to trust him again. Now Rogue was dealing with things on his own, feeling rejected, wanting nothing to do with someone who he tried to give his love to, only to have his feelings brushed aside so the person he wanted could recruit him to play cupid for some girl.

Just thinking about it, Sting sighed, and immediately Minerva's hand came up and slid under his chin.

"Does the train's rattling distress you? Let us disembark at the next town so you may rest."

"No," Sting muttered. "We still have to hit Fairy Tail today. Natsu or Gajeel are more likely to run into him than anyone else."

Rogue would hide from any of his own guild members, but he might accept help from an idol who wasn't obviously going to run and rat him out to Sting. As for whether or not Natsu and Gajeel might _help_ Rogue stay hidden, Sting hoped they had more sense than that. One look at Rogue ought to let them know that he shouldn't be left on his own. Even distracted by Minerva and not giving Rogue all the attention he deserved, Sting had still made sure to regularly check in on him. Back then and especially now, a growing part of Sting worried that when they found Rogue, he might not cry and say he missed Sting too, but instead be hanging from the rafters by a rope around his neck.

"I think it would be for the best that we slow down," Minerva pressed. "Rogue is one who can merge with the shadows, and shan't be found so long as he wishes not to be seen. I do hope he may return in due time, but to push yourself for a fruitless task such as this is foolhardy."

"Please move your hand away. I don't feel good, and it makes me nauseas when your fingers brush my neck."

That hand moved to his shoulder instead. That would still look bad if Rogue saw them just then, but at least it didn't cause any physical discomfort.

"Rogue isn't perfect. Sooner or later he'll slip up and someone will see him. And I can't let him go through this alone."

"He _wants_ to be alone. I can think of no other reasons for him to disappear as he has."

"Rogue does a lot of things he doesn't really want." Like supporting Sting in his endeavors to get Minerva's attention.

Sting had some vague notion that he ought to be more excited about the amount of attention he had from Minerva. After pinning for her for almost a year, her obvious attempts to steal the attention he'd devoted to finding Rogue ought to be flattering. Instead, it was a distraction from finding Rogue. It even registered to Sting as a potential threat, as Rogue would no doubt run again if his anguish over Minerva was what caused him to leave in the first place.

Maybe Rogue would have been more willing to open up to Sting about his troubles if Sting hadn't taken advantage or Rogue in his efforts to woo Minerva…

"Hey… Minerva, why don't you help Rufus run things? I could never handle all of it by myself, so I'm sure he's swamped."

"Do you not enjoy my company?"

"I do," Sting said, which he wasn't sure was true. Normally he liked her, and she wasn't grating on his nerves at the moment, but he wasn't psyched to have her around just then either. "But you and Rogue… um… He wasn't entirely happy with you before he left, so maybe if he were more likely to show himself for some people over others…"

He let the sentence trail off, not wanting to finish the thought and hoping Minerva would do so for him.

Minvera smiled and said, "What ever do you mean? Did I do something to cause Rogue distress?"

"W-well, no. I did, but it had to do with you, so… he… might not… be happy to see us together."

"Very well," Minerva said, seeming satisfied by this. "Once we have finished our business with Fairy Tail, I shall leave you to your own devices. So long as you agree that we are together, I shall waste no energy worrying about what you might do when left alone."

Objectively, Sting realized he should be happy that she decided to return his interest in her, but he as he smiled and nodded, he found himself screaming internally.

-o-

Most of Fairy Tail still took Sting's visits well. Mira smiled and waved to him as soon as he stepped in, and called out to let him know that no news of Rogue had reached her. Sting hovered in the door a minute, looking to see if anyone who did have a lead on Rogue might have heard Mira and realized they forgot to mention anything. Seeing no one perk up with information to share, Sting's shoulders slumped.

Gajeel was the person Sting thought Rogue was most likely to accept help from, but Gajeel was nowhere to be seen. Natsu, the next most likely contender, was hanging out in a back table with Lucy, and Sting went to sit by them, just for the sake of doing _something_.

Sting needed to feel like he was somehow being productive with each visit. If he left any of his regular check points with the sense that he hadn't put forth some extra effort, he felt nauseas. Rogue was off on his own, in god knew what state, with only Frosch for support. Sting couldn't sit idle. If anything happened to Rogue and he hadn't given it his all, Sting would never be able to forgive himself. Even if he gave his all and something happened, that his inattentiveness leading to Rogue's disappearance allowed things to go wrong would be reason for Sting to hate himself until the day he died.

Natsu waved as Sting made his way across the guild hall, and didn't wait for Sting to get close before asking, "Where's Minerva today?"

"Went back to help Rufus with the guild," Sting said. "I thought… since Rogue wasn't too happy about me and her when he disappeared… maybe it would be a good idea for us to _not_ be together if we happened to come across him."

"You're not going to find him running in circles around the same couple towns," Natsu pointed out. "If I were Rogue and I smelled you nearby, I'd have either approached you or hightailed it out of here by now."

He had a point, and Sting hung his head as he slumped into the seat beside Natsu.

"We'll contact Sabertooth first thing if any of us catches wind of up," Lucy assured Sting. "If you want to broaden your search, that's sure to help. You recognize Rogue's scent better than any of our slayers."

"Rogue also recognizes Sting's scent better than anyone in our guild," Natsu pointed out. "If he really doesn't wanna be found, he'll run from me and Gajeel, but I can't think of any reason he'd take evasive maneuvers if he caught a wiff of Gray. As far as I know, they've never even spoken to one another. So Gray's got a better shot of finding Rogue than Sting or I do. I would have to catch him off guard."

"I've kind of held the hope that Rogue wouldn't mind being found by you," Sting admitted. "I'm the one he's running from, I think, but he likes you. I thought maybe if he needed help, he'd go to you." Sting sighed, head slumping forward further. "If he does… Um.. If promising not to tell me where I am is what it takes to keep him from running away again…"

"Promise, help, and let you know he's alive and well somewhere."

Beneath the bench, Lector protested, complaining about how Sting wouldn't smile again until he saw Rogue safe and sound, but Sting nodded.

"You really think he's in that much trouble?"

"I have no idea. That's the worst part," Sting said. "He wasn't eating right when I saw him last. I mean, I practically had to make him eat, and you could tell looking at them that he lost a lot of weight. In his condition, that's… Well, aside from that, I'm not entirely sure… he's emotionally stable right now either. I just… I don't know. He might be okay. Rogue has a lot more good sense to him then I do. Usually, anyway. But the way he acted before he left, I just feel like he shouldn't be on his own. How okay can you even be if you run away from home like that?

"Sometimes I wake up in a panic, thinking he might have let the situation overwhelm him, and without anything there to turn to, he did something drastic. I've had a few nightmares where I found him dead in some warehouse or another. It's stupid. I know Rogue wouldn't do that to himself. But I don't trust him to do _nothing_ harmful either, and I guess I've gotten myself so worked up over what he _might_ do that I've started worrying about the most extreme possibilities."

Natsu leaned over so that, even with Sting's face parallel to the floor, they could make eye contact. "You know what you need? A drink. I haven't smelled anything on your breath since the first time you came asking about Rogue."

"I still have a few more guilds to drop in on."

"And they'll all get in touch with your guild if they hear anything. You think Rogue would feel good knowing you did nothing but stress over him the whole time he was gone? Take it easy for one afternoon, then head out and look for him on your own."

"It's lunch time," Sting protested. He _wanted_ to drink himself so stupid that he didn't have to worry about anything, but he was too worried about Rogue to let that happen without a fight. "No one drinks this early."

"Cana's already drunk," Natsu countered.

"Well, her tolerance is pretty high, so she's had a lot but she's only a little drunk," Lucy pointed out. "Sting probably couldn't drink at her rate without passing out pretty fast."

She said it to give Sting an out, intending to let him know that Cana wasn't a fair comparison. Instead of taking the opportunity to beg off, Sting lifted his head high enough to fix her with a glare and said, "You think I can't handle my alcohol?"

Grinning, Natsu smacked Sting on the back and declared, "Drinks are on me."

-o-

Lector watched Sting drink with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was a little annoying to see Sting drink two mugs to Natsu's one. Watching Sting drink himself silly was always annoying, and had only become more so for Lector since Rogue stopped coming along with Sting in the evening in order to look out for him once he was wasted. Sting being drunk would also make for a _delightful_ train ride home. On the other, it was nice to see Sting finally unwind again. He'd been so stressed over Rogue for so long that Lector worried Sting would give himself an ulcer.

Not being one to drink himself, Lector sat by for a few minutes to hang out before Sting's speech began to slur, but once it was apparent that Sting was drunk, he wandered off to see what the rest of the guild was up to.

He spotted Pantherlily and Carla sitting on a balcony, and his immediate reaction was to resent Pantherlily for getting to be so close to such a lovely lady. Then it struck him that Panterlily was there. If he was at the guild, then Gajeel ought to be nearby, and if Gajeel was nearby and Sting hadn't thought to speak to him, then Lector could help his partner out by going and handling Gajeel himself.

Lector walked around the room a few times, failing to spot what had to be one of Fairy Tail's largest members multiple times before, as he passed by the door to Makarov's office, hearing Gajeel's voice.

Striding over to the door, Lector intended to let himself in and inform Gajeel that he wanted an audience, but before he reached the door handle, he heard something that stopped him dead in his tracks.

"You don't want to tell Sting about this?"

" 'Course I do, but I told the brat I wouldn't. Just said it to make him stop blubberin' and tell me what was going on, but my word's worth _something._ "

Lector looked around to see if anyone was watching him, then pressed his ear against the door.

"Well, there's no helping those who don't want to be helped."

"Oh, he wants help. He's in over his head and knows it. Idiot's too stubborn to go back to his own guild is the problem."

"He wouldn't consider moving in here?"

"Not with Sting coming by pretty much daily. I'm sure they'd smell one another. Maybe you could hide him at Salamander's place, but that's pretty small for shoving so many people into."

"We could see if Porlyusica might let him stay with her. It would be good for him to have someone on hand to monitor his health, and she lives far enough out of town that Sting won't smell him when he visits… right?"

"I mean, she's far enough out, yeah. But y'know, if you ask her to let someone live with her, she's gonna say no. Especially when she hears he wants to stay away from everyone a few extra months. Can't see the old crow putting up with that."

"True. Even if we begged, she'd probably tell him to go back to Sting. It doesn't sit right with me to make him work in his condition, so it would have been better if he could move here and let someone look after him…"

"He's happy to work. This assignment good for him?"

"It should be safe, and it's one that needs to be done. We may need to write a formal apology to Sting once this is all said and done, but… well… I'm afraid Rogue might go so far as to flee to another country if we compromise his current location, and even if it leaves Sting in the dark, I'm sure he would understand that keeping watch over Rogue throughout these trying times was a more pressing concern."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get why I'm the one who has to run out there every other day to check on him."

"It's once a week."

"Whatever. Just give him this?"

"For now, we'll stick to the one mission. The pay is a little high, but I don't think he'll complain."

"Guess I'll be on my way then."

Lector scampered back to hide as Gajeel stepped out of the office, ducking behind the bar. Gajeel looked right past him as he scanned the guild hall for Pantherlily.

Eyes sweeping the room, Gajeel spotted Pantherlily, and he called out to his partner. Sting, already drunk, shouted a cheerful hello to Gajeel, but made no attempt to ask him about Rogue.

Lector watched Gajeel and Pantherlily leave, mind racing. They knew were Rogue was. They were going to Rogue just then. They wouldn't tell Sting either, and Sting would say that he was fine with that so long as Rogue was safe, even if he had no way to verify it and wasn't really fine with the uncertainty at all. There would be months and months of Sting depressed over his friend's disappearance, moaning over what he'd done to lose Rogue's trust.

Sting didn't want Natsu or Gajeel violating Rogue's trust, but if Lector snuck along on his own and pretended to find Rogue through his own power, there was no violation. Maybe he could even make contact with Frosch at a point that Rogue's back was turned, and talk her into coming home with him. Rogue would have no choice but to return to Sting then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember how I said it was only an itty bitty bit too early to have Lector follow Pantherlily?


	11. Safe Sleuthing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sting and Rogue don't reunite yet and the author is really sorry for not having put more thought into that particular sequence of events. I totally thought 11 was the chapter where it happens until I skimmed it before posting m(._.)m

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously. I'm sorry about that. I wrote up to chapter 13 before I started posting, so I didn't have reader reactions pointing out to me what a massive tease it was to follow of Lector finding a way to track down Rogue with a chapter that isn't Lector leading Sting to Rogue. I did consider swapping this chapter and the next one for your guys, but I don't want to risk accidentally missing some detail that requires they stay in the order they were originally written.
> 
> They'll meet again by the end of the month! I promise! Until then, please accept this offering of Rogue/Gajeel BroTP fluff and significant plot things.

Rogue could smell Lector when Gajeel and Pantherlily showed up at his hotel room, but both guests brushed it off.

"We came straight from Fairy Tail, and Sting was there at the time. I'm sure we picked up plenty of scents."

The explanation worked. Rogue couldn't imagine Lector traveling so far without Sting anyway, and he dismissed any anxieties he might have had. Lector wouldn't want to leave Sting, and Sting would worry if Lector went too far. Lector might have been more self-sufficient than Frosch, but he was still little, and hadn't been on his own in a long time.

Besides, there were plenty of distractions from any nonsense paranoia about a cat tracking him down.

"I swear ya get fatter every time I see you," Gajeel said. "Hope Gramps knows what he's doing, givin' you this job. You look out of shape."

"I am _not_ fat," Rogue said. "The baby's getting bigger. It _should_ be. I'm halfway to term."

Gajeel made an exaggerated show of trailing his eyes down the curve of Rogue's swollen stomach. "I shudder to think of what you'll look like by the time you're due. In any case…" He clapped his hands against Rogue's cheeks, then pinched them and pulled them outward. "This is definitely your own chub."

"Shtop id!" Rogue commanded, trying to squirm out of Gajeel's vice pinch without tearing his skin off. " 'b nod fad!"

"Hey, don't get so bent outta shape. Maybe Sting likes 'em plump."

"He doshn't. Led go uv my cheeksh."

Gajeel released Rogue, only to immediately sling an arm over his shoulder. "I still say you oughta run back to him. Sting's tellin' Minerva not to hang around him now in case it keeps you from goin' to see him. I think it's safe to say he likes you more. Drop the kid on him, have him make an honest woman out of you, and he probably won't even complain that you trapped him in a marriage."

"There's at least as many things wrong with that sentence as it had words."

"Whatever. He likes you."

"We're friends. At no point did I ever worry that we would stop being friends if he and Minerva dated, and Sting worrying about a friend is to be expected. The issue is that he likes me as a friend instead of looking at me the way he does Minerva."

"Yeah. Sorry to bring the conversation back to this subject so soon, but unless Sting really does have a thing for tubby guys, I don't think you're going to get him to look at you that way."

"Damn it, Gajeel! I'm pregnant! I'm _supposed_ to put on a little weight."

"Yeah. A _little_."

"I'm not fat! If I look like I am, it's only because I was _under_ weight the first time you tracked me down. Where I'm at right now is _healthy_ , and it took a lot of effort to make sure that the baby was getting enough nourishment. _Stop calling me fat!_ "

"I didn't call you fat. I agreed that pregnant women are supposed to gain a _little_ weight."

"B-but… the way you say it…" Rogue bit his lip and blinked rapidly to keep from tearing up. Damn Gajeel. He knew Rogue was struggling with mood swings.

Seeing that he had Rogue on the verge of tears, Gajeel abruptly switched subjects. "So the mission. You think you can handle it?"

"No. I'm too fat." Rogue hated himself for failing to stop his voice from cracking when he said that.

"Okay. Look. You're not fat. Doesn't matter anyway. Gramps just needs you to hide in some shadows and listen in on what these guys are up to. You could do that even if you were a land whale. And you're more like… pleasingly plump."

"Which is just a nice way of saying fat…"

Tightening his grip so the arm around Rogue's shoulder pulled him closer by the neck, Gajeel said, "Take the damn job before I drag you back to Sting. If you're not gonna accept some well-paying work then we might as well get this over with and send you back home before you're completely broke."

Rogue squeaked an affirmative, some maternal instinct kicking in when it recognized that he was indeed out of shape and couldn't possibly defend himself, but failed to acknowledge that Gajeel wouldn't actually hurt him.

Picking up on Rogue's fear, Gajeel immediately dropped his arm and asked, "You okay with this? I know you've been a grocer of some other dull thing like that the last few months, and I guess you were playin' record keeper for Sting before that. Gramps tried to get you a safer job, but if you can't do it, we can try and find some other excuse to pay you. We could give ya a loan, if nothing else."

Rogue looked down at Gajeel's feet, since he couldn't exactly see his own.

With a sigh, Gajeel put an arm around Rogue again and pulled him into the stiffest, most awkward hug Rogue had ever experienced. Usually it was Sting who hugged him, and Sting's hugs were energetic and bubbly and friendly and tight enough to squeeze the life out of you.

"Look, it's not just Sting who's worried about ya. Gramps wants to make sure you and the kid are alright, and I might care a little too. One way or another, something's gonna work out."

Rogue continued to stare at Gajeel's feet, not wanting to process what was being said.

"Rogue? You okay? Just… Shit, I'm no good at this. Just tell me what you're thinking. I don't know what to say if you don't help me out a little."

"Sting gives better hugs," Rogue muttered.

"Well fuck you." Gajeel pushed Rogue away. "Maybe you should run back into his arms then. He's so worried about ya I don't think he'd even care you're pregnant."

That, Rogue thought, was a tremendous overreaction for a comment about hugging, but it had successfully drawn him out of his emotional funk. Assuring Gajeel that he wasn't _awful_ might (or might not) have been a good course of action, but Rogue wasn't willing to risk letting his mood take another swing down by returning to the subject.

"I think I can handle the job," Rogue said. "It's just spying, right? Where do I report to?"

Gajeel relaxed back at the sight of Rogue pulling himself together. "I'll come around same time next week. Lily'll be by in a few days too. You hear anything that absolutely has to reach us as soon as it can, come to the guild. We'll cover for ya if Sting happens to be nearby."

-o-

It was a simple enough job, albeit one several hours away by train. After a little fretting over the ride, his motion sickness, and how obvious his stomach would be to dozens of travelers headed to more central sections of Fiore who could very easily start a rumor that Sting would file, Rogue swallowed his pride and asked Frosch for help. He didn't like to make her carry him if he could help it, especially not with the extra weight from the baby, but she was a good flier, and had been eager to help since she picked up on the fact that lately Rogue didn't have anything in his life as together as he normally did.

Having heard the conversation with Gajeel earlier, Frosch assured Rogue that he wasn't too much heavier and no harder to get her arms around, which made Rogue cry. They got a late start heading out because Rogue could handle how _sweet_ Frosch was, and Frosch, certain Rogue was upset over concerns about being fat, started crying because she made Rogue cry. This, naturally, only made Rogue more emotional.

When the two finally gathered themselves and set off, it was already late in the evening. Guilty as Rogue felt taking advantage of Fairy Tail's kindness, the job offer included covering any expenses, including hotel fair. Rogue found a cheap inn to rent a room from, and he and Frosch grabbed takeout to eat in bed before going to sleep.

The next morning Rogue left out food for Frosch and a note telling her to be good and stay put. The job wasn't a particularly risky one from what Rogue read, and he knew Frosch would be sad to be left out, but Rogue didn't want to take any more chances than he already was. He had to look out for Sting's baby too. The little boy was big enough now that Rogue could feel him move, and it was hard not to fret about the danger he was putting his future son in when he could feel said son squirming around in his stomach.

Rogue gave his stomach a self-conscious rub before slipping into the shadows. Early in the morning, with the sun only beginning to rise, there was darkness aplenty, and Rogue glided through the shadow towards his destination with ease.

The mission truly was simple. One of Fairy Tail's lesser known members had spotted a few mages from defunked dark guilds, but been too hesitant to approach them, not being among the stronger members of their own guild. They reported the sighting, but the evidence they brought wasn't enough to stir the Rune Knights to action. When Fairy Tail sent stronger members out to handle the problem themselves, the attacking of stray dark mages not violating any rules about guild warfare, the most they could find was signs of someone having quickly cleared from the area. Multiple attempts had proven that whoever was avoiding them, they kept returning to the area, but that did them no good when the enemy could somehow see them coming and flee.

Rogue's job was to verify that the specific mages spotted were the ones meeting in the location Fairy Tail had pinned down, an abandoned office building, and to see what sort of system they had set up to see if people were coming. It wasn't sensing magic power, because even attempts at sending weaker members who suppressed their energy hadn't worked.

Rogue got himself into position hiding in the office, and reminded himself over and over that Fairy Tail had confirmed that this gathering wasn't hypersensitive to magic. So long as he suppressed his energy and used the bare minimum needed to hide in the shadows, he would be safe. Even if they found him, he'd scouted the building for light sources, and picked a hiding spot where there would always be enough shadow to carry him out of the building.

The morning passed by and gave way to afternoon without a sign of anyone. Rogue passed the time counting how often Sting's baby kicked, and regretted not packing a lunch with him. His magic didn't cloak sounds, and it would be just his luck to give himself away because his stomach growled.

Mercifully, before he could grow too hungry, the first few people appeared. Rogue didn't recognize either of them, both being middle ages men. Most dark mages were on the younger side, and were rounded up and shipped to jail before they could do too much damage. The ones who remained free and unreformed later in life tended to be stronger, but Rogue didn't detect too much power from either mage. People who became criminals later in life? Or maybe they were longtime rabble that had managed to escape in the chaos and confusion of their guild being brought down, and had the sense to lay low after. Petty independent criminal mages didn't attract the same sort of attention from the law that dark guilds did.

More mages filed in, each of them talking about any odd thing. The rent on their apartment. The new café that opened up that had amazing cakes. A pharmacy they burned down the other day. The adorable baby photos their ex-wife sent them…

Rogue realized there were more important things to focus on, but the last one made his throat constrict. What would Sting think if he ever figured out he was the father of the child Rogue brought home? Would he feel as hurt as the dark mage did that he didn't get to be there more? Granted, Sting was always free to visit Rogue (under normal circumstances) but…

But nothing. Rogue had already resolved not to let Sting find out, so it wasn't a concern.

In any case, it was a good thing he had descriptions of the dark mages Fairy Tail knew about, and he took note of everyone else he saw. He would need to report all of them, even if he recognized none.

At least, he didn't recognize anyone until Minerva walked in.

They had already been through this once. Minerva had been to two different dark guilds in the past, one of which had demonized her, but she had returned to Sabertooth. She was back on their side, Rogue told himself. He only wanted to doubt her because Sting looked at her the way Rogue wished Sting would look at him. He could have all the secret, petty moments he wanted when it came to telling Sting who said what, but he wasn't so horrendously petty as to accuse Minerva of going back to the dark side just for being jealous of her and the way Sting was wrapped around her fingers. He was there to spy and report back to a guild master, so maybe Minerva was doing the same thing.

He was only repressing his magic as hard as he could to keep her from noticing him because he was worried she'd tell Sting where he was. He trusted her. She was a guildmate and he trusted her. He didn't trust her not to rat him out to Sting, but he trusted her not to realign with a dark guild.

All the things she said, agreeing with the other mages about places to attack, targets to single out, guilds to bring down, Rogue didn't let himself make anything of. If she was a mole, then of course she needed to play along with everyone. And he absolutely trusted her, so he shouldn't be thinking such things in terms of 'if'.

Rogue kept telling himself that right up until he heard Minerva throw his own name out.

"I heard he was missing," one of the men said. "The guild master's been looking high and low for him, people keep saying. You think he could actually threaten our plans?"

"I believe he could pose a threat to my own," Minerva said, and Rogue thanked every god out there that neither she nor anyone else sent a knowing glance his direction. He couldn't fight her in the best of health. "Try though he may to hide, someone will cross his path in due time. Hiding may be a special talent of his, but he can only conceal himself in the shadows for so long before he makes a mistake. I would prefer that the one to find him not be Sting. The ideal scenario would be that Sting not even find his body."

That elicited a few chuckles, and Rogue did his best not to so much as squeak.

At least he knew he could trust Minerva not to rat him out to Sting after all.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies to anyone who really likes Minerva. I have nothing against her as a character, but I did think that she was more interesting as an ambitious villain than a somewhat frightening guild member. And I kind of like the idea that, deep down, she would still be willing to resort to morally questionable moves in order to get what she wants.
> 
> There is an explanation for the Minerva thing, btw. Please stick with me for this, because I promise there's an explanation for turning psycho again and the timing of all her stuff with Sting.


	12. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Sting and Rogue talk

Sting suspected that Yukino had it all wrong. Rogue wasn't secretly in love with him. Rogue despised Sting with every fiber of his being. There was no other explanation that Sting could think of for why Rogue would not only keep so many secrets before running away in the dead of night, but also chose a hiding location that could only be reached by a day-long train ride. Sting left first thing in the morning, when Lector came home from an extended absence and announced he found Rogue, and stumbled off the train late in the evening.

He didn't make it out of the station before bending over a trashcan to vomit, which surprised him. At the point that he realized just how long he'd be on the train, he decided to not attempt lunch, so he thought his stomach was empty.

Fresh air and emptying himself settled Sting's stomach, and having eaten nothing for lunch and, now that he thought of it, run to catch the next train before he finished making breakfast, Sting was starving. It was torture to smell the different eateries he ran past, but every second that his scent could be detected in town and he wasn't tracking Rogue down was a second that Rogue had to run for it again. He didn't even dare pause long enough to grab something from a street vendor that he could eat while he ran.

He picked up Rogue's scent on his way to the hotel Lector told him about, and sped forward. He already let Rogue slip away from him once, and wasn't taking any chances with a second attempt.

By the time he reached the hotel he was breathing hard, but he didn't let himself stop until he was up on the third floor, where Lector swore Rogue's room was. Bless Lector for taking such careful note. Bless Frosch, too. Lector had told Sting that he only found the room because he saw Frosch waving to him from the window.

Only once he reached the door that he could smell Rogue behind did Sting stop and take a break. After five seconds, he knocked.

Silence.

"Rogue? I know you're in there."

More silence.

"I already have to file a form for reparations after Orga broke a statue. It doesn't add anything extra to my workload if I have to pay the hotel for breaking the door down."

"Go away," Rogue said.

Sting's heart clenched, but he wasn't a quitter, and didn't spend an entire day on a train and run past twenty restaurants just to go home empty-handed.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now your guild master is ordering you to come out here."

"I'm leaving the guild," Rogue said. "I'd have handed in a resignation letter if I didn't think it would make you come after me."

"You thought I wouldn't come after you either way?"

Sting almost thought the ensuring pause was Rogue refusing to talk to him again, but then a small voice came from behind the door. "Of course not…"

"Rogue… look… I know what you're going through is rough, but everyone wants to be there for you."

Sting had never heard Rogue snort before, and wished he'd been on the other side of the door to see it happen.

"I'm serious, Rogue. I've been worried sick."

"Gajeel told me. I guess he told you where I was, too."

"Lector found you on his own," Sting corrected, filing away the mental note that Gajeel had known where Rogue was. For how long exactly, he could harass Gajeel about. For now, for as long as he had Rogue's ear, there were more important things to go over. "Natsu told me to start searching for you in unlikely places, but I was delayed, so Lector went on his own."

"You were drunk," Rogue corrected. "I can still smell the alcohol. Are you wearing the same clothes from yesterday?"

Sting looked down and was surprised to see that he was. He sobered up enough by evening to be escorted home, but he must not have thought the change before going to bed, and then he'd been in such a rush that morning.

"First time since you left."

"I'm a little surprised you weren't sloshed the whole time," Rogue admitted, voice going soft. "Have you been alright without me?"

"That's my question."

"I asked first."

Sighing, Sting said, "I've been a little stressed over you disappearing, but no one's tried to murder me, I haven't woken up in any strangers' beds, and Rufus is handling most of the guild work so I have more time to look for you. Your turn. Are you getting enough to eat? You haven't lost more weight, have you? Is the… Do you have a good doctor here? You'd _better_ be seeing a doctor. Can you afford food?"

"I'm alive. Gajeel's helped me out."

"You didn't answer any of my questions."

"Thank you for your concern, Sting."

Sting leaned his back against the door, eyes focused on his feet. So Rogue still didn't want to open up to him.

"What did I do wrong?" Sting asked. "We always told each other everything before. I want to be there for you, Rogue. Can't you just… let me?"

The shuddering breath Rogue took before speaking was loud enough that Sting thought he might not need to be a dragon slayer to hear it through the door. "Nothing. You did nothing wrong. That's why… I'm sorry, Sting. This is my… This isn't your fault, so I don't want you involved."

Sting caught the slip. "I don't blame you, Rogue. No matter what, I won't blame you. I promise. Please, just let me in."

Silence.

"Rogue, please. I can't stand this, the way things are now. I just… I'm going to make myself sick worrying about _your_ health, and do you have any idea how hard it sucks to have a friend try to hide things from you and runaway without a word? I don't know what I did wrong to make you think you can't come to me with this, or at least tell me what you're going through… but I… Please, Rogue."

"I have a new doctor. He's good. He's help me a lot. I'm not as nauseas anymore, and I'm eating better," Rogue said. "I'm not broke. I saved up before I left, and I have a job, so I can afford food."

"And you're eating the right stuff? Even when you do get sick, you have to eat something. Those crackers were easy on your stomach, right? You should have those stocked. Are you still getting that tea I brought you?"

"Raspberry?"

"Raspberry leaf, Rogue."

"It's all the same plant."

"That's what I said about rhubarb, but you still tossed the pie I made you because apparently it was 'poisonous' or whatever."

To Sting's relief, he heard a chuckle. With Rogue possibly in a good mood, Sting dared ask, "What drove you away? I can fix it, I promise."

"It's really not your fault, Sting. If you had any hand in it, I'd make you help, but it wouldn't be fair to you

"You think it's fair to leave me in the dark?"

"Go away, Sting. Just… leave."

"Will you run away again once I go?" Sting asked.

The silence spoke volumes.

"Let's make a deal," Sting said, "because what I care most about is that you'll be alright. I won't come back again. Not unless you send for me, okay? In exchange, you have to stay put, or tell Gajeel where you're next hiding spot is, since apparently it's okay if he knows." Sting tried not to sound bitter. "I'd rather it be me, but it's more important that you have _someone_ you can turn to, you know?"

When Rogue still didn't speak, Sting felt his throat tighten in panic. He'd messed everything up. Rogue wasn't going to stay. There was someone to help Rogue, but Rogue was going to leave them behind just to run away from Sting again. All his efforts, and he'd only put Rogue at risk.

Then Frosch's small voice came from behind the door. "Rogue is crying. Fro doesn't think he wants to go."

"He'll stay?" Sting asked.

"Fro isn't going to go," Frosch answered. "Fro wants to play with Lily and Gajeel needs to help Rogue, so Fro won't go anywhere."

Rogue couldn't keep Frosch under lock and key, and wouldn't risk her running off and getting lost while his back was turned. From past experiences where Frosch threw a fit over Rogue taking her away from somewhere she wanted to be, they all knew what would happen if Rogue tried to run now.

"Thank you, Frosch. Rogue? I promise I'll keep my distance until you're ready to let me in, okay? Just… please come back. Whenever you can. I miss you."

He heard a sob.

"Fro doesn't know why Rogue won't open the door, because Rogue misses Sting a lot," Frosch said.

"I'm glad to hear it," Sting said. "I'd started to doubt that. Well… I don't want to cause you any trouble but… Rogue? I… I hope to see you again soon. Love you."

He pushed himself up from the door, glanced back, then walked away.

Starving as he was, Sting decided to take the train one town over before he ate and found a hotel to stay the night. If someone was taking care of Rogue, then the last thing he wanted was to scare Rogue away by lingering in the area.

-o-

Rogue held his ear to the door until Sting's footsteps faded into nothing, then cracked the door in and deeply inhaled Sting's lingering scent. How he'd missed Sting's smell. It had all but faded from the possessions Rogue brought with him.

'Love you,' Sting said. He'd said he loved Rogue. For a brief, heart rending moment, Rogue almost let himself believe that Sting meant it the way he wanted. That Sting might love him the same way he loved Sting. But then reality came crashing back to stab Rogue in the gut. Sting was a caring person who was open with his affections, and there were more kinds of love than just romantic.

Sting wanted Minerva. Rogue was a dear friend, and it felt good to be so close to Sting, but it wasn't enough.

Still, how loved Rogue felt just then. He'd known, both from knowing Sting and from all of Gajeel's complaining, that Sting was searching for him. He'd taken all the precautions he could with that in mind. He knew Sting would worry, and would try to get him to explain what happened and come home.

He hadn't expected Sting to accept Rogue's rejection so readily, complying with Rogue's insistence that he leave so long as he had assurance that Rogue was still in good hands. Some part of Rogue wished Sting fought harder to see him, but he realized that Sting probably wanted them back together as badly as Rogue did.

Thinking about it, Rogue didn't even try to stop himself from crying. He let Frosch pull herself onto his lap and hugged her tight, and stayed by the door until he cried himself to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhubarb stems are a delightful addition to a strawberry pie. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. There have also been studies suggesting that the root can be used to help fight leukemia. Which is, y'know, good.


	13. Debate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which Rogue goes to Magnolia and has weird cravings

Now that he knew Rogue was safe and sound-ish, Sting relaxed. He wanted to be with Rogue. It hurt not to be with Rogue and he still had no idea why he'd been rejected. But Rogue was safe. Rogue was allegedly in better health. There was someone there for Rogue to turn to for help if he needed it. Sting wanted that someone to be him, but anyone was better than no one.

Since there was no need to worry about Rogue on the streets, suffering from poverty and illness, curled up in rags in some dark alley to try and escape the cold, Sting did something he hadn't done in over a month. He spent a day hanging around his guild. To treat himself, he even asked that Rufus handle papers for one more day, just so he could have a mental break. He just wanted to sit at the poolside and dangle his feet all day. Even getting in to actually swim sounded like too much effort now that the several months of adrenaline rush from hunting for Rogue had dried up. Sting was ready to crash.

"I can't remember the last time you were so at ease," Rufus said. "Is Rogue back home?"

"No." Sting scowled. "I found him, but he wouldn't even let me talk face to face. We had to speak through the door, and he wouldn't come back with me. But it sounds like he's alright."

"I'm glad to hear it, but… if he runs again…"

"Frosch refuses to leave," Sting said.

"So there's no need to worry." Rufus smiled at that. "Why did Rogue leave?"

"No clue. I mean, probably something with his health, but he was avoiding all these subjects, and I thought I shouldn't push…" Thinking that was how Rogue managed to sneak away in the first place. Sting swallowed nervously. "He's coming back eventually, so I'll drag it out of him then." Rogue was crying by the time Sting was done talking with him, so he hadn't the heart to keep pushing.

"If you are capable of taking your mind off of him now," an arm fell around Sting's shoulder, "then perhaps there are other things you might wish to turn your attention too?"

Sting glanced to his side to see Minerva, arm slung around him, bent over at an angle such that you could easily see down her v-neck all the way to her belly button.

He glanced back down at the pool water.

"I'm still going to worry about him. I only have his word and Gajeel's to go on that he's alright, but at least he's got a roof over his head and food to eat, y'know?"

Minerva huffed in a way that Sting used to find cute. When had that stopped being so cute to him?

"Do you desire to play in the water?" Minerva asked, switching tactics. "We would have the pool to ourselves."

"No thanks." Sting swished his legs through the water. "I don't want to get any deeper in than this."

"Oh?" Minerva leaned closer and stage whispered in his ear, "Perhaps there are other ways we could enjoy one another's company alone?"

Sting leaned away and said, "No. I'm kind of tired right now." It wasn't Minerva's small gasp at that, but Rufus's failed attempt to hide his laughter that clued Sting into the fact that he'd turned down sex.

That was fine. He wasn't sure he could perform sober anyways.

Unable to keep up her seductive act any long, Minerva gave a dry, "Whenever you're ready," and left Sting at the poolside.

"I can't recall you being so callous to the lady before," Rufus said once she was gone. "Are you the sort who only wants something until you have it? You're sure to break poor Rogue's heart when he returns too."

"Of course not!" Sting snapped.

He hadn't just been playing with Minerva. It was just…. It felt like there were things that mattered more now. And to accuse him of deliberately hurting Rogue like that! He'd already _had_ Rogue for a long time, as a friend, and unwittingly as an admirer, and he'd been perfectly happy with Rogue's company. Saying he would lose interest in Rogue over their relationship going back to how it had been just because the _change_ in his relationship with Minerva had turned out to not what he wanted was _wrong_.

Sting glowered down at the pool water. Rogue _was_ coming back, wasn't he? Things would be back to how they were before, plus one little additional detail. Rogue missed him. Rogue himself insisted that it wasn't out of hatred that he ran, and Frosch said Rogue wanted to see him.

Sighing, Sting raked his hands through his hair. Rogue said he'd be back eventually, and he was safe and sound and wouldn't let Sting see him just then, for whatever weird reason. Sting needed to stop worrying about him, because trying to figure out why Rogue was so afraid to be around hurt worse than finding out Minerva had feigned ignorance of his crush. Rogue loved him, didn't he? And Sting…

Sting thought it was possible that he might just love Rogue too.

-o-

When Pantherlily came by, Rogue reported that there was indeed a gathering of various dark mages, but he didn't know if they'd formed their own guild, or if the alliance was only temporary, and he hardly recognized anyone outside of the specific few from the papers Makarov sent him. He could describe a few more, and Pantherlily took note of them to see if anyone from Fairy Tail knew who they were, but that was it.

He didn't mention Minerva. Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, Rogue didn't want to believe she'd gone back to criminal behavior every bit as much as he wanted it to be true. Either way, back in Sabertooth, everyone but Sting knew Rogue was in love with Sting. Running away without a word wouldn't have done much for his credibility, too. He didn't think he could accuse her without evidence. It would look like jealousy or spite. That he _was_ jealous of her holding Sting's heart and part of him wanted to expose her just so Sting would see she was no good for him only made Rogue more conscious of how it would look to point the finger at her.

Once more since then, Rogue went back and saw Minerva. He _knew_ he saw Minerva. He should have asked when Sting was there about what kind of job Minerva was on but… it had been the furthest thing from his mind, if Rogue were to be honest. All he'd cared about was that Sting was there, begging to see him, and Rogue wanted to throw the door open and let Sting hold him tight while he cried and said he was so sorry for running away. So sorry for all the trouble he'd caused.

Wiping an eye before he even teared up, Rogue pushed the memory away. That could come once Sting's child… one _his_ child was born, and he was able to return home without Sting learning what happened. Thank heaven Sting hadn't even thought to comment on his smell the other day. Had he not noticed the change because he hadn't smelled Rogue in so long? Rogue was glad, in a way, but at the same time it hurt a little to think that Sting might forget his scent.

Either way, it was something to deal with later. More urgent was confirming that Minerva was a mole, and that it was only his petty jealousy that made him suspect her of any wrongdoings. Jealousy and her insisting that Rogue be killed and his body hidden. He couldn't quite come up with an explanation for that behavior, and she'd only doubled down on her insistence after Sting's visit. It was truly terrifying to hear about how much she supposedly wanted to see him dead.

Gajeel would visit in one day, but seeing Minerva spit his name like it was venom, Rogue felt the need to go to Magnolia early to look into her presence. He just needed someone to confirm with Sting that she was also spying. As long as Sting knew what was going on, Rogue could relax. And if he wasn't aware of what she was up to, then on the bright side Sting would never spare Minerva a passing glance unless it was to know where to strike her if he knew she was truly trying to see Rogue dead.

It surprised Rogue to realize how badly he wanted to go to the guild, but he told himself no. Sting knew where he was, but that was no reason to relax his guard. Sting had agreed by some miracle not to keep visiting the hotel, but Rogue didn't doubt that walking into a guild that there was a high chance Sting was in the middle of visiting would end badly. No door to hide behind. Nothing to conceal his stomach with. In fact, as far as he knew most of Fairy Tail didn't know he was pregnant, so showing himself before any members he didn't know to be in on the secret was a bad idea. The more people who knew, the easier it would be for word to get out. Three people could only keep a secret when two were dead.

Instead, he went to Gajeel's home. Rogue worried he might need to sneak in, seeing no back door and fearing that he'd be recognized by people he didn't want to see him if he waited outside the door. He was relieved when Gajeel opened the door to let him in as he approached it.

"You in danger?" was the first thing Gajeel said.

"I'm not sure." Rogue stepped in so Gajeel could close the door. "I don't think anyone followed me here, at least. But… maybe?"

To what degree did Sting's promise to leave him alone go? If he shared Rogue's location with the rest of his guild on the assumption that they would only use the information for an emergency, and Minerva really was conspiring with criminals…

"Ya look pale," Gajeel noted. "More than normal, anyway. You ate today?"

"Yes." Rogue paused, going over his day mentally. "No, wait. No. With the train, I skipped…"

"You live too far away," Gajeel said, shaking his head. "Fine. Raid the fridge or whatever. You planning to go back to your hotel tonight?"

"I don't have arrangements for anywhere else, and Frosch…"

Frosch refused to leave, afraid Rogue was using the report as an excuse to run away before Sting could potentially visit again. If there was a danger of the hotel being attacked and Frosch was there alone, she'd be a goner.

"Whoa. Sit." Gajeel grabbed Rogue's shoulders and forced him roughly into a bench by the front door. "You look like you're about to puke."

"I think I made a mistake."

"Friendly reminder: I'm in on the fact that you ran away from home after ya got yourself knocked up from drunk sex with Sting. You don't need to tell me what I already know."

"N-no! I…" Rogue stopped himself, shaking his head. He needed to slow down. Explain the situation properly. Not panic. If Frosch was under attack, they couldn't get back in time, and Minerva wouldn't kill Frosch outright. If she was sincere in wanting Rogue dead, then she would use Frosch as a hostage to lure him out, so there would be a chance to save her.

Also, the whole point of coming to Magnolia was to confirm that Minerva wasn't a mole. If she was still loyal to Sabertooth, she might make a show of kidnapping Frosch, but she wouldn't cause any harm. No one in the guild would tolerate it.

"Okay. What happened?" Gajeel asked. "Someone else find you?"

"No… Yes. Sting. Sting came to my hotel. He didn't see me and he said he won't be back, but—"

"Oh. That why he stopped coming around here?"

"Well… maybe."

"You two kiss?"

"No!"

"Why blush over something like that? You _can't_ have forgotten that you've done a lot more with Sting than _not kissing_."

As if siding with Gajeel, the baby chose that moment to kick Rogue.

"L-look… Sting showing up… He doesn't know about the baby. He didn't see me. Frosch won't let me move either. M-maybe if you insisted you'd follow us still but… I don't know. That's not the most urgent matter right now."

"So the urgent part is…?"

"Minerva."

"What happened with her? Sting proposed?"

" _No_." Unless that happened while Rogue wasn't there to sabotage the proposal in some petty, jealous way. "I saw her while spying for Makarov. If you could please ask Sting for me if… Um…"

"If she was there at his request, or if she's really gone rogue again," Gajeel finished for Rogue. "You have that little faith in your own guildmates? No wonder you ran away from them."

If he heard the second half of that, Rogue might have felt ashamed, but he heard nothing past 'gone rogue', and could only scowl at Gajeel and say, "I _hate_ that expression."

"What expression? Gone rogue? I'll be sure to use it to refer to your running from Sting from now on. In fact," Gajeel smirked, "I think I'll use it any time I see someone act as stupid as you are."

"I hate you."

Gajeel shrugged. "So what did Minerva do to get you so worked up? I'm guessing you'd have said something already if she were trying to win Sting over."

"She already _won_ him, for starters," Rogue said. "Aside from that, I think she might want me dead."

With a snort, Gajeel dropped down onto the bench beside Rogue. "What gave you that idea?"

"The part where she said she wanted me dead and my body never found. On multiple occasions. When I first saw her with all those dark guild members I thought she had to be a spy, but nothing else they've said they plan to do aligns with me needing to be dead, and she's the only one who ever brings it up. So even if she's a mole… I don't know… it seems weird."

Weird was an understatement. Rogue's stomach was in knots just thinking about the cool, indifferent look on Minerva's face the last time she said it. Like he was a rat she saw scurry across the kitchen once, and she wanted to lay out poison in every nook and cranny to make sure he never came back. With the baby, he was in no shape to fight, as if he'd ever have been able to hold his ground against her, and even that slim possibility that she really meant him harm gave him chills.

He felt the baby stretch its little legs inside of him and winced. It wasn't just that he was less capable of defending himself in his current condition. He had a second life to protect as well.

"That goes a little beyond weird," Gajeel said. "Come inside. Let's get you two some food. I already had to put up with Sting begging us to help find ya for month. I'm not going to have him nag me about being inhospitable too."

Rogue stood and followed Gajeel into his house, which he was surprised to see furnished almost entirely with wood rather than metal, most of it painted a surprisingly well maintained pure white at that. Then again, even if it were possible, Rogue would never decorate his own home with shadows. It would be too tempting not to eat his furniture. Although looking at that end table…

Eyes widening in horror, Rogue frantically shook the notion from his head. He'd read that cravings for things that weren't food at all could happen. With all the other dietary issues he'd faced, he wasn't surprised he wanted to eat wood. Although that sofa also looked delicious…

"You look scared," Gajeel noted. "I'm not hidin' Sting in here, even if it looks like I had the place painted special for him."

Of course. Rogue's cheeks flushed as he realized that while neither Gajeel nor he (under normal circumstances) would see any appeal in the culinary prowess of white wooden furniture, for Sting, the entire room might as well have been filled with metal or shadows. He was craving the same things Sting usually wanted. The white of everything in the room.

"I'm fine," Rogue said. "Just hungry. That's all."

"You must not have eaten in days, then."

"The baby's messing with my head."

"I bet a lot a things are messing with your head," Gajeel said. "It probably would've helped if you had someone around to keep you straight during all this."

"Would you like to move to Kardia with me?"

"I think he meant your boyfriend," Pantherlily corrected, sticking his head out from another room.

"I'm single. That's most of my problem right there."

"No," Gajeel said. "Mosta your problem is that you decided to run away with your tail tucked between your legs after you got knocked up because you thought it wasn't fair to your baby daddy that he have to pull his weight with the kid."

Patting Rogue's knee sympathetically (as his paw couldn't reach Rogue's shoulder) Pantherlily said, "Realistically, most of his problem is that he's pregnant."

"And I'm not holding Sting accountable for things he does while he's black out drunk."

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Why not? Law holds people accountable for shit they do drunk all the time. He chose to get drunk, so he can't complain about what he chose to do once he was drunk."

"He chose to get drunk with the assumption that I would be the responsible one for him," Rogue said, crossing his arms and giving Gajeel the most pointed expression he could muster. "That's how we always did things."

"Did he know you were drunk?"

"He… I…" Rogue thought back to the incident. Sting had certainly noticed while they were at the bar. Had he drank anything else since noticing Rogue's state? Had he already blacked out by that point? He must have, because he had no memory of asking Minerva out the next morning. "I started drinking after him."

"And then you pressed him for sex?" Gajeel asked.

Pantherlily held a paw up. "Before you answer that one, _I'm_ going to go warm up a dinner for Rogue. I don't need to hear any of this."

Rogue did acknowledge to himself, as Pantherlily fled the living room, that Gajeel didn't need to hear about his and Sting's drunken escapade either. But he wanted to prove to Gajeel that Sting held no accountability. He wanted that as much as he wanted Gajeel to convince him that he wasn't selfish for wishing that he could run back to Sting and stop trying to deal with as much as he could on his own.

And since he wanted Gajeel to genuinely convince him, he had to be completely honest while he tried to convince Gajeel. "It was Sting's idea. He offered as an apology, when I told him that I was mad about him and Minerva. I just… I followed along. Even though some part of me thought it was a bad idea. I told myself 'you'll never get a chance like this again' and that part of me that knew it was a mistake couldn't stop me."

"You don't get drunk often, do you? You seem confused by this whole 'made a mistake' thing."

"W-well, someone has to stay sober to walk Sting home."

"And you don't even drink when you're home?" Gajeel asked.

Rogue flushed, suddenly feeling like an incredibly boring person. He used to say it was just because Sting was so lively, and he looked withdrawn by comparison. Now he wondered if, maybe, the only reason he looked alive at all was because he reflected Sting's energy. Like how moonlight was nothing more than reflected sun.

"Sting had no reason to suspect I would drink." Rogue said that, but a lump formed in his throat. He _wanted_ Gajeel to convince him that he was wrong. "It was our birthday party. He dragged the whole guild to a bar, so he had plenty of people to drink with."

"Who expects someone to stay sober in a bar on their birthday?"

"I never drank with Sting before."

"Still. Seems like the invite to spend _your birthday_ at a bar is an invite to drink."

Rogue sighed and shook his head. He appreciated the effort, but Gajeel couldn't seem to think of anything that really addressed his concern.

"Fine. Doesn't matter. Smells like Lily's got yer food ready. Eat up. We'll figure out what to do about Minerva once you've refueled."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gave me more trouble than any other in this fic, and I think it shows. There's so much rambling internal stuff at the start of Rogue's scene. I feel like it's really obvious that I didn't quite know what to do and just wrote whatever shit came to mind until I hit on a line that gave me some direction to actually go in. If I went back in time, I'm willing to be that line came not long after I thought to actually reference my story outline. (I wrote about 4/5 of it back when I still did chapter by chapter outlines, then stopped following those by the time I actually wrote this, so I used it as a general guide for the story's direction, but went way off script and a lot of events don't really match up, so there wasn't a whole lot of reason to reference it. But I do recall that a scene in the next chapter was one I remembered to write because of that outline, so I must have written this second scene to get Rogue in position for that.)
> 
> Actually, the main part where I got stuck was just getting Rogue into Gajeel's house. Once he was there, I was fine. The cravings were fun and the convo came early. It's jst getting someone from point A to point B that I struggle with. That, and fight scenes.


	14. Complications and Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which verifying which side Minerva is on is hard

Rogue didn't realize he'd fallen asleep at Gajeel's, but that's where he woke up. Pantherlily had flown out during that night and persuaded Frosch that it was okay to abandon her post so long as Rogue was with Gajeel, and so she was there when Rogue woke up. With her nuzzled under his arm, he almost didn't notice that he wasn't in their normal hotel room.

Gajeel's couch, which Rogue had been dumped on, looked as delicious as it had the night before, and Rogue forced himself to his feet and into Gajeel's kitchen before he bit into something that wasn't meant to be eaten. Frosch went on snoring in his arms, although for as large as he'd gotten, Rogue suspected he could set her on his stomach and hold her there with minimal effort.

Rather than test that theory, he set her on the kitchen counter while he raided Gajeel's fridge. Although he'd been given permission the night before, he tried to be frugal, taking only a hardboiled egg and a carrot. He was munching on the latter when Gajeel came out, took one look at the pitiful breakfast, and pulled out a package of bacon and sausages to fry.

"That's the kind of crap Lily eats, and he's a tenth your size," Gajeel said. "Heck. You could fit him in that gut of yours."

"You don't need to rub it in," Rogue muttered.

"Long as I have to play parent while you insist on this stupid hiding from Sting business, I'm rubbing in whatever I feel like."

Gajeel then chucked a banana at Rogue's head.

Not inclined to turn down extra food regardless of how it was delivered, Rogue held the carrot between his teeth while attempting to retrieve the banana from the floor. Gajeel paused in his bacon preparation to watch this. After a humiliating minute of Rogue struggling to find a good way to bend down and get the banana, Frosch decided to show him some mercy and pick it up for him.

"At least _someone_ cares," Rogue said, falling back into one of Gajeel's chairs.

The kitchen (as well as the rest of the house) was smaller than Rogue always imagined for his childhood idol, but that said less about Gajeel's living conditions and more about Rogue's overinflated expectations. Aside from a kitchen spacious enough for an island and its own table, there was a dining room collecting dust down the hall. It made Rogue self-conscious of his hotel room.

Gajeel, still grinning from watching Rogue attempt to pick up the banana, said, "I'm doin' a hell of a lot for ya for someone who doesn't care. It'd be a lot less effort to chain you up and give Sting a call."

"It would waste a lot of effort you've already put into helping me keep this secret," Rogue pointed out.

"Yeah. But that efforts already been put in. Whether I keep tryin' now or not doesn't matter. Oh quit looking so anxious. I'm not ratting you out. Yet. Sooner or later, you _are_ gonna have to tell Sting what happened. You think no one's gonna notice the kid looks like him?"

"Black hair is a dominant trait."

"Yeah. Maybe. But red eyes sure aren't," said one red eyed man to another. " 'Sides, there's more to how a person looks than their hair and eye color. Your scheme only works for as long as ya stay away from him, idiot. If you plan on seeing the guy again, you'd better start workin' on a speech to explain how royally you fucked up. And hope he takes your apology."

Wouldn't that be something. The guilt of Sting trying to apologize to him for whatever he'd done that made Rogue run away had been near suffocating. Rogue tried his best to assure Sting that he wasn't in the wrong, but there was no good way to really explain his blamelessness without saying 'I took advantage of you when I knew you would be too drunk to remember, then lied to save face.'

"There you go again with that face," Gajeel said. "I'm just giving you grief. Sting cares about you too much, and for as stupid and obnoxious as he can get, he's not as dumb as you. He might be miffed about all the secret keeping once he's done stressing about you two being separated, but he's not gonna think you're some sorta horrible rapist just 'cause you said yes to sex when you were drunk."

"He might think that because I pretended it didn't happen…"

"Yeah. That was a dick move on your part," Gajeel agreed. "So was hiding that you got yourself pregnant with his kid, then running away without leaving a note."

"I _almost_ left a note."

"I know. Sting dug it outta your trash and showed everyone."

Rogue froze, banana hanging from his mouth, and stared at Gajeel in wide eyed horror. That paper had been a series of drafts for what he might write for Sting. It hadn't been meant for all of Fairy Tail's eyes. It hadn't even been meant for Sting's eyes. Had he shown it to all the other guilds he went to for help as well?

"So?" Gajeel asked. "What are you gonna tell him?"

"Whatever flies out of my mouth when I have to face him," Rogue said. For as much as he liked to go into things with a good, concrete plan, that was a dilemma he couldn't bring himself to think of, and planned to avoid thinking about until he absolutely had to.

"Alright. Sure."

Gajeel grabbed a plate and dumped the bacon and sausage on it before dropping the whole thing on the table. He then plopped into the seat beside Rogue, positioning the plate roughly in the middle of their chairs before picking up a sausage between his fingers and sticking it in his mouth.

"Um…" Rogue stared at the plate in distrust. He didn't even share dishes with Sting that way when he served food, and he'd never let Sting get far enough into the food preparing process to try and serve anything in such a disorganized manner. "Do you have a fork I could use?"

"Bacon is finger food."

"No it is not. And not all of that is bacon."

Rolling his eyes, Gajeel pointed to a drawer beside the fridge.

Unable to let the patronizing look go, Rogue said as he retrieve the fork, "I'm surprised you didn't eat all your cutlery."

"Lily bought silver stuff. Cost an arm and a leg."

Rogue considered his kitchen back home to be well stocked with good quality products, but he'd paid more attention to cooking utensils than forks. Sting didn't care about how fancy a fork he ate with, but Rogue had to be able to outdo Minerva's cooking whenever he made something for Sting. Silverware might have been in his budget, if he felt like treating himself, but that was back before he got knocked up.

It felt silly thinking about that. Usually, in the romance series Rogue watched, it was a girl who cooked for her crush. And now that he thought about it, given that he was pregnant…

Before that train of thought could go to deep dark places that would shatter any sense of masculinity Rogue had left, he asked Gajeel, "Is there anyone you like?"

"The heck? Why're you asking something like that? You think this is some girly slumber party or something?"

Rogue flinched inwardly, but Gajeel's cheeks turned ever so pink when he spoke, and he didn't meet Rogue's gaze. Rogue pressed onward.

"I just thought you might have some suggestions for how to go about letting someone know you like them. Since I'll have to explain to Sting why I agreed to sleep with him drunk."

"I mean, 'I was drunk too' seems like it'd get the job done. If not, there's nothing wrong with 'I like you,' is there?"

"He says that," Pantherlily's voice drifted from down the hall, "but he'll never say it to _her_."

Rogue didn't know who 'she' was, but it was satisfying to see Gajeel get so flustered that he chucked a sausage at Pantherlily, wall between the two of them be dammed. The sausage, naturally, hit the wall and fell to the floor with a greasy flop.

Since there were only two sausages left at this point, Rogue quickly forked one before Gajeel could waste or devour it.

"An-y-way," Gajeel growled, "If you're feeling brave, you can go tell Sting all this now, or do you want me to be the one to go and ask him about Minerva."

"You. Definitely you."

"Oy. You're supposed to want to do this for yourself. What if I told him about the sex and kid but not the beer or the liking him?"

"I assume that the involvement of beer would be obvious, since he doesn't remember that anything happened. But I was referring more to the issue with Minerva. Please _don't_ tell Sting anything else."

"You can ask Sting about Minera yerself without telling him you went and got knocked up."

Rogue paused in the middle of forking bacon into his mouth to gesture to his stomach.

"Call it a beer belly."

"I don't drink that much. He _knows_ I don't think that much."

"Maybe if you drank more, you'd've handled it better when you drank with Sting."

"Maybe, but that's not really something I can practice right now."

"Why not?" Gajeel asked, and it took him a second for his brain to catch up with his mouth. Rogue was already raising his hand to gesture to his stomach again when Gajeel said "Rightrighright. The baby. Right."

"So you'll ask about Minerva for me?"

"I guess. Gramps picked that job for you because it was the safest thing we could have ya do that was actually useful. It's hardly safe if someone you're spying on is targeting you specifically."

"Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah. You stay put and make yerself comfortable, alright? I'm gonna go to the guild and see if I can't contact Sting. And then you've gotta give your report to the old man insteada me, since you came all the way here."

"Is it safe to come by the guild?"

Gajeel snorted at that, which Rogue would have taken to be exasperation over how anxious he was with the thought of being found out. Execpt then Gajeel said, "Not if you're tryin' to avoid a bar brawl."

"Oh." Rogue had been in his share of those, but he wouldn't dream of joining in one while pregnant. Even going near one, from what he'd seen, was a risky venture.

"You hole up here. You're good at hiding from anything that's the slightest bit scary, right? I'll take care of things for you and send Gramps over. But you owe me big time once you push that kid out."

"A-ah. Right…"

-o-

Sufficiently shamed, Rogue finished off the bacon after Gajeel left and went to search the house for some way to escape reality. There were books scattered throughout Gajeel's house, although Rogue knew that Gajeel's attention span for such things was even worse than his own. And knowing that, he hoped to find—yes! On the second floor, in Gajeel's room, there was a small lacryma-vision to watch shows on. Pantherlily even gave Rogue approval to sit on Gajeel's bed while he watched, in exchange for letting the exceed feel the baby kick.

"Is he normally that active?"

"He moves around more when I do, or after I've eaten," Rogue said, flipping through channels for something to watch. "Sometimes he keeps me up all night, though."

Gajeel had fewer channels than Rogue got. He had a news channel, a porn channel and Pantherlily didn't need to be so insistent that he speed past (as if Rogue would let such a thing play with Frosch in the room!), and a station that played nothing but soaps and cheesy romance movies. Apparently, Gajeel paid for that one just to appease a guildmate who came over often. Pantherlily wouldn't name her, but from the way he snickered as he explained the channel's presence, Rogue could guess why Gajeel would want her appeased.

Too bad he couldn't get Sting to come over more by buying the right channel.

Of course, Rogue could summon Sting to his house merely by not leaving it, but that wasn't the point. The point was that Sting was always going to be a friend, and not someone who Rogue could—as Pantherlily hinted of Gajeel—watch pornos in order to get ideas for how to spend time with.

He barely even remembered the one time he made it to bed with Sting, and he'd been suffering for it for going on five months since.

A movie finished and Gajeel still wasn't back yet. Rogue turned the screen off, unwilling to sit through another happy-go-lucky romance that only rubbed the pitiful state of his own love life in his face all the harder. It wasn't fair that some quirky girl in a movie could so effortlessly nab the most attractive, most aloof boy in her school when Rogue couldn't get Sting to notice him as a man sober, and everything went to hell when he let himself get excited by how Sting was willing to give him affection when drunk.

So envious was Rogue of the silly movie protagonist, so bitter about his predicament, that he swore he could _smell_ Sting and Minerva. Like his imagination was mocking him for having been unable to win Sting's affection.

Rogue had never been an exceptionally imaginative person, and he knew it wasn't just in his head when Lily turned towards the window at the sound of Minerva laughing.

"Now there's the voice of an angel."

"No."

"Oh. Right. You came here worried about her, didn't you?"

Pantherlily sounded sympathetic, but he looked excited nonetheless as he hopped from the bed and ran to the window to try and catch a glimpse of his crush. Because freaking _everyone_ like Minerva best. Rogue listened, but didn't dare go to the window and risk being visible from the street below.

Sting was there. In town. With _Minerva_. Walking right past Gajeel's house and no doubt smelling Rogue. He might have even heard Rogue and Pantherlily talk, and Rogue held his breath as he waited for something to happen, knowing Sting knew he was there.

But there was no knock on the door. No comment to Minerva about Rogue being in town. No indication at all that Sting planned to acknowledge Rogue, and when his voice faded into the distance and his scent dispersed and Rogue asked "Did he look our way?" Pantherlily shook his head.

Deep down, some teeny part of Rogue was aware that Sting promised to leave him alone until he was ready to come back, so long as he had others he could turn to for help. But most of Rogue didn't care about that. Sting was right there and hadn't so much as tried to catch a glimpse of Rogue in the window. Never had Rogue felt less wanted.

"I hope Gajeel found a good roundabout way of asking about Minerva," Pantherlily said. "I wouldn't put it past him to say to her face that she isn't fully trusted."

"If he comes back alive, then we'll know he was tactful about it," Rogue said.

"Because if she were trying to cover up criminal activity, she would be more likely to harm someone who's on to her?"

"Because she's Minerva, and she hates people with no tact." Which made it all the more unfair that Sting of all people had taken an interest in her. Rogue found Sting's tactlessness endearing, even if it could get vexing it times.

Seeing Rogue's face fall, Pantherlily said, "It's possible there is something questionable going on, and Sting was reluctant to look our way because he didn't want to tip her off before he had a chance to sort things out and verify her innocence."

"You're assuming she's innocent."

"You're assuming she's guilty."

"Well, she did say she wants me dead and buried in an unmarked grave in the middle of the woods."

"And it convinced you that she's a villain, didn't it? If she's trying to infiltrate a dark guild, she needs to act convincing."

"Okay, but she could say she wants someone the rest of the guild is _actually targeting_ dead. They want to overthrow a meeting between guildmasters. Sting is a guildmaster. Sting is a guildmaster who dethroned her father. She could say she's bitter about that. Going after me could only be some weird, personal vendetta. And I have no idea what I even did to make her want me dead."

"Hurt Sting by running away?"

Rogue recoiled as if the words were a slap to the face.

"Rogue didn't hurt Sting!" Frosch, who had been holding her breath alongside Rogue since the lacryma-vision went off, said. "Rogue ran away so Sting wouldn't be hurt, and it hurt Rogue a lot!"

It was true, in part. Rogue ran away to spare Sting from being tied down with a child. But if he was honest with himself, he also ran so he wouldn't have to come clean about what happened on their birthday. And he did so knowing that Sting was worried about him and how secretive he'd grown, and knowing that it would kill Sting to have him vanish without a word.

The silence that fell over the room was suffocating.

"How…" Rogue searched for some subject. Any chance to let Pantherlily distract him from his thoughts. "How… often… Um… How often have you seen them together… since I left?"

It felt self-absorbed to ask, but Rogue wanted to know.

Pantherlily thought about it. "Often enough. She wasn't with him initially, and at some point she stopped following him constantly. Not long before he found you, come to think of it. I heard he was worried you would be less likely to approach if you saw them together."

The way Pantherlily leaned in when he finished saying that, Rogue _knew_ he was waiting for confirmation. Too bad giving it would mean vocally acknowledging the implication that Sting had no doubt figured out about his jealousy issues with Minerva.

"Well, yeah. She _does_ want me dead."

"Sting doesn't know that."

Unless he did! Rogue perked up at the thought. Sting might have been worried that Rogue was afraid of Minerva. He could have asked Minerva to try and recruit the dark guild she infiltrated to help find him!

Except…

It made no sense then that Minerva would continue to badger the dark guild over his whereabouts after Sting found him, and if she were only helping Sting search, she wouldn't want Rogue dead.

Rogue hoped to high heaven that Gajeel was tactful and hadn't tipped Minerva off. If she knew Rogue was onto her, he was certain she would only double down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't make up Pantherlily liking Minerva. It's canon. Look it up.


	15. Rejections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sting has to clean up his messes by himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick PSA because a certain "salty anon" who has been deleted got under my skin.
> 
> This is a story about someone who is having a baby despite having a dick. While the mpreg genre is open to expansion, that is the basic circumstance that the term originally encompassed. You are free to write your own stories which take the current challenging of gender into consideration or read such stories from others interested in writing about that, but contacting an mpreg fic writer to complain that the pregnant man in their story is the wrong kind of pregnant man because he's biologically male is about as sensible and welcome as contacting a fantasy author to complain that their book had too much magic and should have just been about totally normal people in a fictional world. Expand what the genre encompasses if you want, but if you want to come in and say that that which it was originally created for is not welcome, then fuck right off.

It took a great deal of finagling on Sting's part, but in exchange for agreeing to let Gajeel know if he noticed anything shady going on in his guild, Sting got to hear updates on how Rogue was doing. Gajeel, Sting gathered, was the least pleased of all three of them with the current state of affairs. But like Sting, he prioritized ensuring that someone was there for Rogue over risking him make another run for it. This conveniently did not impede him from giving status updates, now that Sting had found Rogue and agreed to keep his distance.

It did concern Sting, naturally, that Gajeel wanted to know about Sabertooth activity, but Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were allies. And Gajeel was sheltering a guildmember who had reason to be wary of the rest of his guild. Sting told himself that it made perfect sense for Gajeel to ask about Rogue's guildmates. He was probably asking on Rogue's behalf.

There had been some moderately worrisome things Gajeel wanted to know about. The amount of interest he gave Minerva, for example. Taking Gajeel's questions about what Minerva was to him had been embarrassing enough. Sting knew that Rogue knew about his crush, and he knew that he was Rogue's crush, although he didn't think that Rogue knew that he knew that. No doubt Gajeel knew about the entire love triangle. Sting tried to will himself not to blush

More alarming than being none too tactfully questioned about his love life was Gajeel's interest in what Minerva did on her own time. The only answer Sting could think of was that she was practically glued to him, unless he asked for time to himself. She took missions, and he was told that she sulked around the guild or went home when Sting asked for space, but he hadn't done that as often since confirming that Rogue was safe. Not that he wanted to encourage Minerva. He was looking for a way to gently tell her that he didn't enjoy being with her as much as he thought he would. He just didn't enjoy the thought of being eviscerated if he picked the wrong way to tell her they were done.

Was his guild looking to take down any dark guilds? Sting had given that one a shrug and a nod. They took jobs asking that a dark guild be stopped from time to time, and they paid well, so they were always welcome. When pressed, he told Gajeel that they weren't actively pursuing any at the time, but if Fairy Tail needed help with one—and had the Council's permission for once—then he'd be happy to put a team together to help them out.

Enduring all those embarrassing or disconcerting questions had been worth it, though. Rogue received bi-weekly checkups, and agreed to take light work for from Fairy Tail as an excuse for the guild to arrange those checkups and make sure he was financially secure (and also get some tasks handled on the side). For as often as Gajeel or Pantherlily checked in on him, they had plenty to report about Rogue's wellbeing. He had told Sting the truth about eating better, and by Gajeel's account had gained back all the weight he lost. He was prone to getting quiet when reminded about Sting and easily shamed on the subject of how he ran away without a word, which satisfied Sting to hear more than it should have, but overall it seemed like he was doing okay emotionally. He could laugh and banter and doted on Frosch the same as always. The other day, he'd contemplated buying a parakeet that Frosch wanted as a friend, but changed his mind after Gajeel called the idea "fucking stupid" and the bird started to repeat the phrase.

It made Sting jealous to have to hear all of it second hand. _He_ wanted to be the one to dissuade Rogue from buying some fruity bird by teaching it to swear. But the stories made Sting smile even if he wasn't in them.

For fear of offending her, Sting usually let Minerva do as she pleased, but she never came with him when he went to the Fairy Tail guildhall to ask Gajeel for an update. After being asked about her, Sting was too embarrassed to bring her along constantly. And given the odds that Gajeel was also giving Rogue reports on what was up with Sting, Sting didn't want Gajeel to think that he and Minerva were glued at the hip since Rogue left.

That meant, unfortunately, that Minerva was always right there when he returned to the guild, ready to pull him aside and push him against the wall and kiss him, and Sting had no idea how to tell her that he didn't want that after having been the one who pursued her for so long.

-o-

Perhaps it had been naïve of Sting, but he'd hoped that Rogue wouldn't take long to return after they spoke to one another through the hotel door. He hadn't expected Rogue to leave in the first place, so of course he wouldn't be a good judge of when Rogue would return. At the rate things were going, he worried it might be spring before Rogue came back, or even longer. The only thing that kept Sting from worrying that he might never see his friend again was both Rogue's assurance and Gajeel's weekly insistence that he wouldn't be gone forever. Gajeel's insistence in particular, as Sting got the sense that if Rogue dragged his feet with coming home once whatever drove him away in the first place was resolved, then Gajeel would drag him back. You had to be blind not to see how much Gajeel hated enabling Rogue.

As for what drove Rogue away in the first place, Sting was finally coming around to the idea that it really _wasn't_ anything he was to blame for. Rogue had adamantly refused to tell anyone about the sudden change in his condition, going so far as to decline to fill out the paperwork to request medical aid from the guild. Unfair, since Sting would have been perfectly willing to keep those papers out of everyone else's sight. But then Sting did push paperwork onto others an awful lot, so maybe Rogue thought he would slip up and accidentally give someone else access to the file while shirking his guildmaster duties. If Rogue fled to try and keep anyone from finding out what happened to him, then that gave Sting a vague idea of what his friend was going through.

Which really only made it that much harder to go over a month without having spoken to Rogue.

It had been thirty-four days _exactly_ since they last spoke. Thirty since he caught Rogue's scent in Magnolia and struck his deal with Gajeel. Half the reason that Sting kept going back for news was that he wanted to smell Rogue again and pretend they were reunited, but whatever brought Rogue to town, he hadn't come back again. Probably smelled Sting and decided he was getting too lax about hiding himself.

Sighing, Sting let himself flop over on the guild's bar counter.

"I don't remember you looking so dejected," Rufus said.

Orga balked at that. "You don't remember the entire two month period where he drove himself mad over Rogue hightailing it out of town?"

"H-he looked more anxious then," Rufus argued. "Now he just looks… sad. Trouble in paradise?"

Minerva was in the kitchen just then, explaining to the guild chef how to correct the balance of spices in her favorite dish, so there was no danger in Sting saying, "What paradise?"

"You need to tell Minerva you changed your mind," Rufus advised.

Behind him, Yukino shifted uncomfortably in her seat. It was no secret to anyone in the guild that Rogue had it bad for Sting, and she was privy to the fact that Sting's panic over Rogue started with his learning about the crush, and that guilt over failing to notice Rogue's affection was a major driving factor in Sting's behavior in the months to follow.

Sting didn't know how many people thought he'd played dumb, like Yukino had, and how many people knew he'd genuinely been an idiot. He was afraid to ask. Asking would let on that Rogue's feeling were on his mind, and clueing people in to that might make them realize a deeper problem.

Sting never once considered the possibility of him and Rogue while Rogue was still there. He had Rogue had been friends for years, and changing that—risking the loss of that—was something Sting refused to consider. So it was easier to fall for someone outside his closest circle. Having the idea of a romantic relationship with Rogue shoved in his face, then having the idea of Rogue _in love with him_ circling through his mind for months while he angsted over how he'd neglected his dear friend, Sting found himself thinking of the possibility of them together more and more. The ache he felt in Rogue's absence certainly felt akin to how people described losing a lover, if nothing else.

But he dared not mention any of that. It was bad enough being unsure how to let Minerva down after pursuing her with such determination. Having spent months on the receiving end of rejection, Sting knew how horrible it would feel to have someone tell you that they were only interested in you because they were trying not to think of their potential with someone else. Someone else who they decided was the one they really wanted.

Maybe he ought to mention _that_ to Gajeel. Maybe it would get Rogue running back home in a heartbeat. Sting regretted promising to stay away from Rogue's hotel. It physically hurt to be unable to tell Rogue how he felt.

Had it hurt Rogue the same way to be afraid to confess?

"Do one of you want to tell Minerva for me?" Sting asked.

Practically the entire guild's heads bobbed from right to left. Sting might have felt shamed by their expectation that he break the news himself, but he knew at least half of them were mostly afraid she would shoot the messenger.

Sting really ought to be the one to break it to her, even though for as blatantly unenthused as he acted, he suspected she had to know he'd changed his mind. Just like how she played dumb for so long and pretended not to know he was interested in her. Really, it was impressive how much of their relationship consisted of Minerva disregarding Sting's signals. At least he genuinely didn't notice Rogue's feelings.

Given how poorly he managed with Rogue, no one should have trusted him with another relationship.

"Seriously. I'll pay you guys."

"It will be good practice for explaining to people that you don't return their affection," Rufus said. "Considering you were the one who signaled interest to Minerva in the first place, future rejections should be easier."

He meant Rogue, although no one but Yukino ever discussed Rogue's feelings for Sting without dancing around what she was talking about. No one else wanted to risk being the one to out Rogue, given how dense their guildmaster could be.

When Yukino first told Sting, he'd certainly thought about a good way to let Rogue down gently. To apologize for dragging him into things with Minerva and explain as tenderly as possible that for as important as Rogue was to him, he had eyes elsewhere. Having found out a few hours later that he'd lost Rogue, Sting missed the chance to make that rash decision before he could really think about _exactly_ how important Rogue was to him.

And poor Rogue! Sting winced now, thinking of every time he showed affection or Rogue tried to signal interest, only for Sting to then talk about how lucky he was to have such a good _friend_ , or how he wanted help courting Minerva. No wonder Yukino felt the need to approach him. And with Rogue's situation…

Rogue always stayed sober to look after him, but Sting had noticed even then that Rogue seemed lonely, and always suspected that Rogue must have drank when no one else was around. In the privacy of his own home, Sting figured, since Rogue knew what trouble Sting could get himself into when drunk in public. Sting was the one with a history of waking up in bed with a stranger—although it hadn't happened much since Rogue started watching him—but he jealously wondered if Rogue might have ever had his own secret drunken flings. If he drank over Sting and Minerva, then he probably knocked himself out quite a few times in the months leading up to his sudden change in condition..

"Do you think Rogue ever took an interest in anyone else?" Sting asked. "I know he used to think that red-head girl was cute. Jenna? The one who got kicked out about a year after the two of us joined."

They'd been fourteen at the time. Sting tried to track that girl down once since becoming guildmaster, thinking that Rogue would like someone in his life, and Rogue snapped when he found out. He'd been flustered and furious, telling Sting he was too dense to have any idea what he wanted anyway and to stop trying to play match-maker.

Sting probably would have had an outburst of his own at the time if Minerva tried to push him towards Yukino. Come to think of it, Yukino was another potential girlfriend that Sting had tried to set Rogue up with.

God, he was the worst.

"I don't recall Rogue ever taking an interest in a wide array of people," Rufus said slowly. Cautiously. He didn't know Sting knew. "There was someone he was interested in, but I wouldn't say he had much of a shot. But… it is possible he sought comfort elsewhere when he felt rejected. You did bring him to a great many bars, and I imagine it would be easy to arrange something before he took you home." Rufus's lips twitched up. "Do you recall anything happening when you two were out?"

He knew Sting was almost always too drunk by the end of the night to remember it come morning. Curse him.

 _Could_ Rogue have arranged affairs? Sting knew first hand that it was easy to pick someone up—or be picked up—at the bar. Granted, Rogue had to know that sloshed sex partners weren't the best, and mild drunks weren't generally drunk enough to sleep with a stranger unless they came in looking for casual sex… Of course, there were people who went to bars looking for casual sex, and he had never paid enough attention once he started drinking to pick up signs that Rogue was one such individual.

"You really think Rogue slept with someone else?" Yukino asked. Her voice was pleasant, but her eyes said there would be a stern lecture later.

"I mean, _I_ never slept with him."

No one protested that Sting wouldn't remember. Rogue had been very vocal in the past of just how little he thought of anyone who would take Sting to bed when he was wasted. To do so himself would probably be grounds for seppuku, in Rogue's mind. Sting called it making a mountain of a molehill—most everyone he woke up with had as bad a hangover as he did, but there was no way to point this out without Rogue launching into a tirade about how Sting needed to look after himself better and practice moderation.

He could hear Rogue now. 'One of those girls is going to give your some weird disease. Or you'll destroy your liver. Thank God you became the guildmaster, because when you're too sick to keep taking jobs, at least you'll have a cushy position that lets you sit behind a desk.'

Rogue never actively stopped Sting from drinking, though. Probably worried that Sting would only try to sneak around him, and end up an unsupervised drunk again.

"Do you think I should quit drinking?" Sting asked.

"Let's not do anything hasty," Orga said.

"I think it would be good, but you're just trying to dodge the subject of Minerva," Yukino said.

In all honesty, Sting had forgotten about Minerva for a moment there.

"I suppose… I should maybe tell her… huh?"

"Tell me what?"

Guild members were already clearing seats and fleeing the building as Sting looked up at Minerva, who had just emerged from the kitchen. There was a smudge of spice on her cheek, but that sleek, gorgeous hair of hers was as flawless as ever. Sting used to love looking at it, but now it was just… there. He couldn't get himself excited if he tried.

He owed it to her to be upfront. He already screwed up everything with Rogue, and everyone Sting dealt with deserved better.

"We need to talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sting's train of thought in this chapter makes more sense if you looked up the health benefits of raspberry leaf tea. I dropped you guys that hint and even highlighted it in my notes so you couldn't miss it, and am still so disappointed with everyone who didn't go and look it up.


	16. Gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gajeel is playing a double agent for Sting and Rogue

Rogue collected enough intelligence to satisfy Makarov, and was switched to another, safer job. "Safe" wasn't exactly how Rogue would describe being made to act like a fly on the wall in _Council meetings_ , but while it was a potential legal nightmare if he were to be caught, he could at least rest comfortably knowing he wouldn't be executed. Makarov even offered to claim that they exploited Rogue's health and blackmailed him into the job if it would keep him out of jail. Not that anyone would believe that _Fairy Tail_ might exploit a desperate, pregnant, emotionally compromised boy (assuming they believed that a boy was pregnant in the first place), but Rogue appreciated the thought.

Aside from the risk of being arrested, the job was a more comforting one. There was a slimmer chance of being beaten senseless if caught, and no one periodically stressed that they wanted him dead. After a few weeks away from Minerva, Rogue could almost forget about her.

By Gajeel's account, she was most likely acting on her own. Sting appeared ignorant of any infiltrations, although Gajeel had to ask in a roundabout way, since Minerva had been there when he tried to fish for info. Gajeel offered to be more forthcoming with Sting the next time they saw him alone, but Rogue declined. Minerva often went off of her own judgment rather than Sting's, and Sting would know that Gajeel was asking on Rogue's behalf. It could still be explained away, and so long as those two were still strolling around town together, and the last thing Rogue wanted was for people to see him as petty.

Actually, the last thing he wanted was to be seen at all. He was nearing thirty weeks, but more than once he'd been asked by hotel staff and grocers when he was due. Long gone was the point where people mistook him for having a beer belly, and now it was assumed until he spoke that he was really a masculine looking girl. (The hotel staff, knowing better, had been talked into keeping his condition a secret from tabloids.) Rogue could only feel one child in there, but he still made a habit with each ultrasound of asking if he was pregnant with twins.

The more apparent his condition became, the more of a shut in Rogue turned into. He would still oblige Frosch with outings, but only at times of the day when there wasn't much attention to attract, and only if she begged. Groceries were bought in bulk, crammed into his hotel fridge, and meals were heated on a two-burner stove and toaster oven.

With that in mind, he'd requested that Gajeel always come to meet in the hotel from there on out. He thought this would cover all bases, but discovered a flaw in his plan to create as few embarrassing situations for himself as possible mere seconds after Gajeel knocked on the door to his room.

Frosch hopped up, eager to do whatever she could for Rogue, but Rogue pushed himself to his feet and told her, "I can get it."

There were things that were difficult for him, sure, but he'd be dammed if he let himself get so lax that he relied on Frosch for something as simple as walking across the room and turning a doorknob.

This proved to be a serious mistake. While he was able to stand, walk across the room, open the door, and step out of the way to let Gajeel in, things fell apart once Gajeel was inside. The iron slayer took a seat at the desk chair and politely waited for Rogue to sit as well, which meant all of his attention was on Rogue as he made his way back to the bed.

"Has anyone ever told you that you walk like a fatty?" Gajeel asked while Rogue was halfway to his bed.

"I-I…"

Gajeel waited for Rogue to come up with a more fleshed out response, but Rogue could think of nothing.

It was Pantherlily who came to the rescue. "Rogue is pregnant, Gajeel. Everyone walks like that when there stomach is large enough."

"Doesn't mean it's not funny to watch."

"L-look away! Jerk!"

"The jerk's going through an awful lot of trouble to keep you from having to own up to your fuck ups. Finish waddling yourself to bed and tell me what you have to report."

Huffing, Rogue sat down, taking a moment to find the nearest thing to a comfortable sitting position that he could manage. "I should make you apologize before I tell you anything."

"I should hold off on giving you the check Gramps wrote until you tell me everything."

Rogue wasn't living paycheck to paycheck. Makarov was generous with his pay in a way that Rogue knew was because all of the work they gave him was an excuse to make sure he wasn't starving while pregnant, and he hadn't the slightest idea how he'd ever be able to repay Fairy Tail for the help they gave him.

He wasn't about to starve is Gajeel refused to pay him, but he did have a baby on the way, and he wouldn't be able to work for a while after giving birth, and he didn't have enough to buy the remaining baby supplies he needed _and_ keep the fridge stocked while not working. Also, he didn't have anything of significance, and Gajeel _knew_ he was only spying on the council in case there was a change in how they handled the guild, so he needed the money more than Gajeel needed to hear the report.

"No real changes," Rogue said. "It turn out the team tracking your guild is only giving your paperwork a thorough lookover. At present, they can't act on anything you don't reveal in your reports. Unless you… How is Makarov recording my pay?"

"Filed it under assurance checks or something. The usual stuff the guild does to make sure clients are honest. You're not the first spy for the guild by far. You're not even Gramps first. Other masters before him learned t' not add 'spy wages' to the books."

Sabertooth had no system in place for making sure that their clients weren't leading them into a trap, despite Sting and Rogue both having fallen into such traps multiple times. Sting also probably did file any obviously suspect payments under names that gave away what he was up to. Rogue had never written in anything himself while balancing the guild books, but then if Sting did something he knew Rogue would scold him for, he would have taken charge of finances until enough time had passed that Rogue wouldn't notice any discrepancies.

Sting wasn't underhanded, scheming, or one step ahead of the curb on tracking threats to his guild like Fairy Tail was, though. If anything, he would have handled finances to cover up how much booze he drank on a night that Rogue wasn't there to babysit him.

"You look annoyed," Gajeel said. "Did you _want_ us to tip the council of to ya?"

"No. Just… thinking about other things."

"Huh. And here I thought it was a myth that pregnant women had poor attention spans."

Rogue chucked his pillow at Gajeel before continuing.

"They're looking for excuses to exclude you from this year's Games. The last couple of times, you guys made a scene of things, and they're trying to nip that in the bud this time. If you're disqualified because you, say, got yourself into another unauthorized guild war, then it's less work for them in the long run."

"Lucky for us the group we had you watching the other month isn't registered as a guild, huh?"

Rogue did his best to smile at that, but having tried to forget about that assignment since it ended, couldn't quite manage.

"Something wrong?" Gajeel asked.

"Did you ever find out what Minerva was doing there? You're sure Sting had no idea?"

"Hard to ask. She was still clinging to him the first time, so I couldn't ask outright, and he gets all tomato faced and changes the subject whenever I bring her up now. Your guild isn't monitoring any criminal activity that wasn't asked of them on a job slip, and last I checked, none of the jobs dealt with any organized criminal mage group. But he could be keeping a lid on any plans in order to keep Minerva from being busted."

"Right. Or he could genuinely not know that his girlfriend is consorting with criminals and wants me dead," Rogue said, letting himself flop over on the bed.

"Actually, I think they broke up."

Being cumbersomely pregnant didn't stop Rogue from bolting upright. "Who called it off?"

"Wow. Lucky for Sting you weren't there. Way to be a sympathetic friend."

"I can't believe I just heard that from _you_. You have been nothing but rude ad unsympathetic to me about my struggles. Letting yourself be roped into helping isn't the same as sympathetic." Rogue paused just long enough to let Gajeel process that before saying, "But I'll forgive you for your rudeness if you tell me everything about this breakup."

Gajeel snorted, but obliged Rogue. "I think I embarrassed him outta bringing Minerva with him to Magnolia a while ago, but a couple weeks back he came asking about you all bruised up—"

Sting being covered in bruises was normal, for as many fights as he ran headfirst into. Rogue brushed right over that detail and moved on to more interesting things.

"Asking about me in what way?" This was the first Rogue herd about Sting coming to Gajeel for news about him.

"Just makin' sure you're not dead. He comes by every now and then and asks how you're doing. Are you happy? Are you healthy? Is there anything he can do that won't upset you? It's not as obnoxious as when he came around daily asking if anyone had heard any news about you, but it's still annoying. Sometimes he nags me about how I need to have you do this or that to look after yourself. I think he thinks you're the one who made me ask all that stuff about Minerva, too."

"I _did_ ask you to find out what she was up to."

"And I couldn't ask him that outright, remember? Since we already established that he didn't know about any spy jobs, I didn't bother with bringing that up again first thing the next time I caught him alone. So I figured it'd be better to learn how serious things have gotten between the two of them since you left."

And Sting thought Rogue put Gajeel up to that! Rogue grabbed the pillow he hadn't already thrown and buried his face in it to hide his blush.

"Quit bein' such a girl," Gajeel said, which was perfectly unfair when Rogue had seen him react similarly to Pantherlily's teasing, but Rogue was too busy hiding his face to retort. "Anyway, I asked him how he was doin' with Minerva a while back and he wouldn't talk about her much after. They were only _sorta_ dating, by the way. He didn't sound very enthused about it. So he showed up looking like he just fought off an entire guild, and of course everyone asked about that and he kept fidgeting and looking at me while he dodged their questions. So the _next_ time he came, I held the info he wanted on you hostage until he told me in private.

"They split. Guess he lost interest in her somewhere during all that time he spent panicked over how you bolted in the dead of night." Gajeel paused there to give Rogue a wicked grin. He loved reminding Rogue that he'd picked a horrible way to handle the mess he got himself into, and Rogue knew that well enough that merely having the situation come up in conversation was enough to shame him. "He took his time telling her, 'cause he was the one who was interested in her in the first place, so he didn't know how to say he changed his mind. Whatever he finally decided to tell her, it obviously wasn't the right thing. She kicked his ass."

That was unfortunate for Sting. So it was odd that Frosch threw her hands up in the air and cried "Hurray!"

" _Frosch…_ " Rogue said.

"Now Sting can love Rogue!"

" _Frosch!_ "

Laughing when Rogue's face turned red all over again, Gajeel said, "Everyone in the room knows what you want. No sense in pretending it's a secret. Besides, the frog might not be wrong. He lost interest in her when he thought he lost _you_. That's worth something, right?"

That everyone present knew Rogue's situation didn't make it any less embarrassing. If anything, it made matters worse. "Just give me my pay and go!"

-o-

Rogue cursed his enhanced hearing, because he could hear Gajeel laugh all the way out of the hotel.

Thoroughly shamed and needing something to take his mind off of what had transpired, Rogue tucked his pay into a hidden compartment in his suitcase with the rest of his money, than went to shower. He didn't think anything of it that Frosch didn't follow him into the bathroom, because more often than not she gave him his privacy.

He didn't think of it when he didn't see her immediately after coming out that she wasn't out in the open. She liked hiding under the bed, despite his having insisted the hotel floor was filthy, and there was nothing obviously suspicious. No windows wide open in the middle of winter with the curtains fluttering around them. No swinging door.

Rogue turned the lights off, crawled into bed, and spent five minutes looking for a comfortable position to lay in. Once settled, he shut his eyes and waited for Frosch to curl up with him. He was asleep before she came.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She's obviously still under the bed and not missing. Besides, even if she did leave, with her stellar sense of direction. she'd be just fine. And it's not like people sneaking out and running away from their loved ones has caused any trouble before, amirite?


	17. Vanish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Frosch turns up safe and sound

By nature, Sting was a flashy person. He dressed in a way meant to draw attention, spoke loud and bold, and acted in the most showy way he could. He liked attention. He _loved_ having all eyes on him.

Except when his bitter ex that he wasn't even sure he'd actually been with, and with whom he had an awkward and violent breakup, came to the guild. Then Sting fell quiet and made himself small, or even ducked into the old office to disappear completely. Luckily for him, Minerva rarely lingered long. She came in, snatched a job, and left. Only when someone else attempted to engage her in small talk and see if they could help calm her and clean up the mess Sting made, like how Yukino had stopped her that day to talk about baking, did she stay for more than a minute or two.

Messes were all it felt like Sting was good at making. He screwed up horribly with Minerva, losing interest in her the moment she decided to take interest in him. He screwed up twice as bad neglecting Rogue, and expected that things at the guild would only be more awkward when his friend came home. Whenever the heck _that_ would be. If he'd only realized sooner…

Lost in thought, Sting didn't even notice the tap on his window. It was Lector who pointed and exclaimed, "Frosch!" that caused Sting to whirl around in his chair.

Sure enough, Frosch sat outside the window, waving and grinning.

Sting was at the window in a heartbeat, wasting no time letting her in. Rogue would murder him if Frosch were out in the cold any longer than she had to be. That knowledge alone made Sting pick Frosch up and inspect her for damage before he even thought to check for Rogue's scent. To his disappointment, he only caught traces on Frosch's frog suit.

"You came by yourself?" Sting asked.

Frosch nodded, and Sting's heart sunk to his stomach. Rogue would be in a state of panic over Frosch's absence that would put Sting's two month search for Rogue to shame.

Seeing Sting's concern, Frosch said, "It's okay. Fro followed Gajeel, and a nice lady helped Fro find home from Fairy Tail."

Bless that nice lady. Who knew what depths of madness Rogue would be driven to if he lost Frosch forever. Just thinking about it was enough to make Sting hold Frosch tight against him. He needed to bring her to Gajeel _immediately_ , so she could be returned to Rogue before he did serious damage stressing out over Frosch's disappearance.

"What made you think you should come on your own?" Sting asked, heading for the office door. If his tone hurt Frosch's feelings, he didn't care.

"Fro wanted to see Sting. Fro heard that Sting didn't love Minerva anymore."

Sting's hand flinched away from the door. He could still here Minerva outside, and he didn't dare walk across the guildhall, right in front of Minerva, with Frosch in hand, while the little frog-cat talked about their split. He looked over at the window, but it didn't open wide enough that Sting could squeeze himself through.

So the fastest way to return Frosch without being murdered would be to let her say what she came to say, and then run her out the front.

"Yeah. It didn't work out with us."

"So now Sting can love Rogue!"

Yes. She definitely came on own. For as utterly unexpected as Rogue's crush on him had been, Sting had no good response for Frosch. The only thing he could even think was that even _Frosch_ picked up on it when he hadn't. Hell, the fact that Frosch knew made it worse that Sting never found out because Frosch was terrible with secrets. Rogue must have worked himself silly keeping Frosch from giving his secrets away.

"Here. Make yourself comfortable." Sting set Frosch on the chair, then sat in front of her with his legs crossed. "What is this about?"

"Rogue's always really sad because he loves Sting so much, but Sting loves Minerva. But now Sting doesn't love Minerva anymore, so Rogue and Sting can be together and Rogue will be happy and everyone can come home."

Was it that simple? Confess to Rogue and Rogue would return? That… That put the blame for their separation on Sting, though. At least in the sense that his neglect drove Rogue to run away. And Rogue had promised that Sting had nothing to do with why he left. Had Rogue run off hoping that the distance would make it easier to get over Sting? If so, he _had_ to get them back together _stat_. The only problem as that he promised not to force his presence on Rogue again so long as Rogue promised to stay put for Gajeel, and if he was wrong about why Rogue ran away and went back on his word…

"Why did you two leave?" Sting asked.

Frosch opened her mouth, then went wide eyed and slapped both paws over her mouth. When Sting stared expectantly, she looked to Lector and frantically shook her head.

"She won't say," Lector translated.

"But I _need_ to know. For Rogue's sake."

"But Rogue left to keep Sting from finding out!" Frosch cried, then slapped her little paws over her mouth again.

It was like a slap in the face. Rogue left to keep a secret from him. _Him_. Not the guild. Not the town. Sting specifically. Rogue was so afraid of _Sting_ finding something out about him, of how _Sting_ would take it, that he felt the need to flee in the middle of the night without a single goodbye.

"I… I found out that Rogue likes me… so he can… he can come home."

Frosch's lips were sealed once more, but she shook her head to let Sting know this wasn't the issue.

"What is Rogue afraid I'll do if I found out?" Sting asked.

Frosch shook her head.

"Frosch, I can't… I can't let him know I love him if something like _this_ is between us." Some secret so massive that Rogue would run away without even saying bye just to keep _him_ from finding out. Something so serious that Sting would always wonder how he failed to reassure Rogue of his loyalty, that he wasn't trusted to know about it.

Sting felt neausea, but Frosch looked elated. "Sting _does_ love Rogue! Fro has to tell Rogue right away!"

"N-no." Sting caught Frosch by the tail when she tried to fly back to the window. "I mean… _Frosch_ , let me take you back, alright? I promised to stay away, but I'll take you back to the hotel. That way you don't have to wait for anyone else who can show you how to get home."

"But Fro made it here on her own!"

"You made it here following Gajeel. So follow me this time, alright?"

Frosch didn't look happy about it, but she nodded.

"Okay, so we'll just—"

"But when we get there, Sting has to tell Rogue who he really loves."

Dear God. It would never be safe to take her past Minerva. And stubborn little Frosch was repeating herself louder now because she was miffed over needing an escort. Sting was one decibel away from covering her mouth himself.

Seeing Sting's agitation, Lector piped up. "I can take Lector home, Sting. Then you can focus on finishing your work." He didn't need to wink to let Sting know that he really meant Sting could keep hiding from Minerva, but he winked anyway.

"But if Sting doesn't come, how can he tell Rogue—"

"Yes! Good idea, Lector! Frosch, you'll have to tell Rogue for me, alright?"

Sting would have preferred to tell Rogue himself, but Frosch wouldn't keep this a secret when she came all the way home on her own just to see the love triangle resolved the way she wanted. Unless she told Sting what Rogue ran away for so Sting could assure Rogue it wasn't an issue, he couldn't go back on his promise to keep a respectful distance. Not when doing so ran the risk of Rogue bolting a second time—without Fairy Tail looking out for him.

Frosch looked as unhappy with the arrangement as Sting felt, but she let Lector drag her to the window anyway.

"Let Rogue know I love him," Sting said. "And let him know that if he wants to hear the words from me, he has to be the one to come and ask. I'm not going back on my promise to give him space, okay?"

-o-

Frosch had really tried her hardest! She wanted to go home and play with Lector and Orga and Yukino and Sting again. And she really, really, _really_ wanted Rogue and Sting to be back together. Rogue was so sad without Sting. Even if he said it was okay and they had to be apart and he had to accept that Sting didn't chose him, he was _wrong_. He was wrong because all those things made him sad. And someone as smart and kind and nice and friendly and special and loving as Rogue didn't deserve to be sad. Anything that upset Rogue was obviously something that was never supposed to happen.

Sting was such a meanie! He wouldn't let her prove that she could get back on her own, and he wouldn't tell Rogue that he loved him. If he only told Rogue, then Rogue would stop crying. Frosch was sure that Rogue would even feel like it was okay for Sting to know about the baby. And they could go home, and everyone would be happy again.

Frosch sulked over Sting's cruelty as Lector dragged her out the window. She wanted _Sting_ to visit Rogue, not _Lector._ She didn't want to leave until she knew Sting was coming too, so she wasn't going to fly, and Lector could carry her the whole way to Kardia if he wanted her gone without Sting in tow.

"Frosch! Move your legs!" Lector ordered, but Frosch wasn't going to listen to him. He was a meanie too, because he went along with what Sting said and wouldn't let Rogue know he could stop crying and come home.

"Frosch! Rogue is going to worry if you don't get home as fast as possible!"

"Fro _is_ home!"

"You need to be with Rogue! He's going to be even more upset if he thinks he lost you!"

But Frosch wasn't lost, and Rogue wouldn't be upset for long at all if Sting could just come back and tell Rogue that everything was okay. If Frosch had to make Rogue worry a little extra for a few minutes to make that happen, then she would!

"I thought it was your voice I heard."

Frosch looked up when a shadow fell over her and Lector to see Minerva looming above them. She looked exactly as Frosch remembered. Pretty in a really scary way. Even when she came back after running away and said she wasn't going to be bad anymore, she still looked scary to Frosch. And she scared Rogue a lot since he ran away, so Frosch was sure that it was right for her to be scared of Minerva too.

"Ah. Miss." Lector looked scared too, so Frosch decided it was okay that she was trembling. "I thought you were busy with Yukino."

"Our conversation reached its completion."

"That's… nice. I have to take Frosch… um… to…"

Smiling, Minerva bent down and picked both of them up. "Poor Rogue must be so deeply distressed by her absence. Allow me to make sure you both reach your destination safely."

Minerva wanted Rogue dead. Frosch knew that. Rogue said it so many times. Minerva wanted to find Rogue and kill him and hide the body, and Frosch couldn't lead her to him. She summoned her wings and pushed out of Minerva's grasp, trying to fly away before she could be used against Rogue.

She made a foot before Minvera reached out and snatched her tail. Crying as she was yanked back, Frosch turned to an alarmed Lector for help.

"Sting!" Lector cried. "Sting we're—"

Bright light engulfed all three of them as Minerva's magic distorted the space where they stood, and when her spell dissipated, Sabertooth was nowhere to be seen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I strongly encourage everyone to write from Frosch's perspective because it is fun and she is precious.


	18. The Great Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue is completely chill about the fact that Frosch is missing

"Well, I've got some good news, and some bad news. And some more bad news."

"If the good news is anything other than that you found Frosch, I swear I'm going to—"

"Stay put like I told you too," Gajeel finished for Rogue. "Even if we have to drug ya, which it might come to, because the bad news is we have no idea where she is."

Rogue grimaced. He already knew that. If Gajeel learned where she was, he'd have gone to fetch her before coming back to see Rogue. But he still didn't want to believe that she'd been lost.

"And the allegedly good news?"

"We know where she _was,_ " Gajeel said. "I heard from Sting, and Frosch showed up at the guild the same day you noticed she was gone. Apparently she decided that his breakup was the chance to get the two of you together."

Normally, this would leave Rogue mortified, but he was more concerned with Frosch, and gestured for Gajeel to carry on. Worried about the lack of blushing, Gajeel continued slowly.

"I guess the fallout with Minerva was worse than he made it sound, and he was afraid for his and Frosch's sake to take her out into the guild hall with her chatting about how great it was that he didn't love Minerva while Minerva was right there. Lector offered to take Frosch back so Sting wouldn't have to endanger them and someone would still be able to keep her from getting lost."

"And?"

"And that's it. He hasn't seen or heard from either of them in three days. He contacted us hoping Lector was with you."

Rogue was going to be sick.

"They're _both_ missing?"

"How good is Lector's sense of direction?"

"Better than mine or Sting's."

Lector wouldn't get lost. Not ever. Sometimes Rogue thought that Lector could find his way through a maze blindfolded on his first try. If Lector didn't make it to the hotel and back when he'd been the one to track Rogue down there and tell Sting about Rogue's hideaway in the first place, then something went wrong. Horribly wrong. They were stopped. They'd been caught in a storm and injured, or someone took them. Maybe it was only Lector who'd been abducted or killed, and Frosch was helpless without him. Maybe they were both caught up in whatever went wrong. Either way, Frosch was in danger.

Rogue must have looked like he was about to hyperventilate, because Gajeel passed him a paper bag.

"Where did they disappear?"

"Somewhere between Sabertooth and Kardia."

That covered half the country, depending on what route Lector took. It could have been anywhere from Sabertooth's front door to the hall of Rogue's hotel, or any train, station, town, or the entire mountain range between.

"We'll find them," Gajeel promised.

Rogue thought he might have said something in response, but he was breathing in and out of the paper bag at this point, so it was possible he hadn't been able to manage words.

Gajeel waited for Rogue's breathing to return to normal before promising, "We'll find them, Rogue. You have to settle down, though. You've got that baby to take care of too."

"He hasn't been _born_ yet. And Frosch is _out_ there."

"Look, I asked Levy about this shit, alright? Stress isn't gonna do this baby any good."

" _You'd_ be worried if Lily went missing!"

"No. Lily can look after himself."

""I shouldn't even _have_ a baby! I can't even look after Frosch!"

"If it's any consolation, even with Sting as the dad, I think the kid's going to turn out smarter than Frosch."

Pantherlily had held his tongue when Gajeel was defending his ability to manage on his own, but at this point he felt the need to step in. "Gajeel, Rogue doesn't need you insulting Frosch right now."

"No. He needs some since knocked into him. He's lucky I'd be hung if I hit him."

Levy, who was staying over at Gajeel's along with Rogue, poked her head around the corner to watch and make sure she didn't need to hang Gajeel. Erza and Gray were also nearby, Erza having been recruited to help with the search for Frosch while Gray was on duty with Levy to make sure Rogue didn't run off to search on his own. He was comically pregnant, and aside from undoing the extensive trouble he'd gone through to hide that, no one wanted to risk him hurting the baby or miscarrying thirty weeks in.

Well, "no one" was a bit of an exaggeration, given how few Fairy Tail members even knew about the situation with Rogue. The only person not currently in Gajeel's house who he'd decided to tell was Makarov. Even Natsu had only been told that Gajeel was in contact with Rogue and Rogue was in a panic because Frosch went missing. (Not that Gajeel didn't trust Natsu with a secret. It was more Happy that he was sure would blackmail Rogue forever with the information, and after everything he'd put up with, Gajeel felt he'd earned exclusive blackmailing rights.)

In any case, Rogue ran to Gajeel for help locating Frosch and found himself effectively under house arrest. Pantherlily had tried staying behind initially while Gajeel searched at first, playing replacement kitty to try and placate Rogue. When Rogue made it abundantly clear that he was not impressed, Pantherlily revealed that his _real_ intent was to keep Rogue from joining the search, then recruited someone else to babysit before he joined up with Gajeel to help hunt Frosch.

Which was ridiculous. Pantherlily should have been looking from the start. Searching would be a more valuable use of Gray's time too. And Levy's. And _Rogue's_. Who _cared_ if people would out he bedded a drunk and wound up pregnant? _Frosch was in trouble_.

Rogue ought to be out there looking for her—and Lector too, he supposed. Instead, he was left on the couch while Gajeel gave him a stiff head pat and left to look without the help of every last man he could possibly recruit.

Levy came all the way around the corner with a bowl of sliced fruit and sat down next to him with a book. So it was her turn to distract Rogue while Gray guarded the exit. Pity. Gray usually let him turn on Gajeel's lacryma-vision. Levy insisted on reading to the baby, since Rogue was apparently too uncultured for such a thing.

In all fairness to her, she never said those exact words, but they were implied. Regardless of where their focus was, everyone in on Rogue's secret seemed to have their own negative opinions of how he was handling things. Back when it was only Gajeel complaining about how much of a burden it was to babysit Rogue, that didn't seem too major. Now that there were more people passing judgment on his each and every movement, Rogue was sincerely grateful that he chose to hide his pregnancy. He could only imagine what it would be like to have the whole of Sabertooth acting like they were experts on his situation.

"I picked a book meant for older children today," Levy said. "I hope you don't mind. I thought it might keep you more engaged, and I've read this one a few times so I know there's nothing in it that would be inappropriate for a young child."

"Levy, the baby hasn't been _born_ yet. You could read porn and it would have no negative impact."

Levy looked aghast.

Sighting, Rogue said, "I'm _not_ going to read porn to him as a bedtime story. I promise."

She still looked aghast. Probably because she realized Rogue wasn't likely to read to his son at all. Whether or not Sting knew he was related to the baby, Rogue figured that Sting would be all over the chance to read bedtime stories to a kid. He would probably be eager to save the boy from Rogue's heathenous, screen loving ways and teach him the joys of reading. He'd tried it with Frosch too…

Frosch who was still missing.

On impulse, Rogue glanced out the window. Not that he expected to see Frosch there, obviously, but it never hurt to try and gauge the distance. He kept estimating whether or not he could make a break for it while Levy or Gray stood over him. It always seemed doable, but he didn't think he'd make it far once they started chase. Being pregnant was exhausting and cumbersome, and he could neither outrun them nor travel from shadow to shadow long enough for an infamously persistent Fairy Tail mage to give up pursuit. Not without a tremendous head start.

"Levy, now really isn't an appropriate time for—"

"You're not really in an appropriate condition to help with the search," Levy said. It took no psychic powers to know what Rogue was going to say. He'd barely said anything that wasn't centered around Frosch since he showed up at Gajeel's door.

"I can—"

"Waddle. The only reason anyone would _target_ Frosch is to get to you, and the next most likely explanation is that a natural interference like the weather caught her and Lector. So you're either in danger and need to lay low while Gajeel handles this—don't make that face, he's better at secret operations than you'd think—or they're somewhere in the wilderness. And you're in no shape to go blundering through forests buried in three feet of snow, much less the mountains."

Rogue tried not to be offended, but he didn't do a good job.

Still, it hadn't occurred to him, in all his panic over Frosch, that _he_ might be the real target. It did make sense. Frosch was precious and perfect and he could see someone wanting her for themselves, but he had more enemies than she did, and there were people who knew she was his weakness. Everyone in Sabertooth, for one, knew that he couldn't function when uncertain of her wellbeing. How convenient that she was last seen there.

"Is Gajeel gone?" Rogue asked.

"He's probably near the edge of town by now," Levy said. "I can contact him by lacryma later, if there's something you need to tell him."

Something to ask, more accurately. Minerva had been there the day Frosch vanished, Gajeel said. She was what prevented Sting from escorting Frosch home himself. Minerva, who knew how dear Frosch was to Rogue, who had consorted with criminals and spoken at length about how she wanted Rogue dead, and who Sting had unwittingly indicated wasn't doing such a thing as part of an undercover operation, had been in the place where Frosch was last seen at the time of her last sighting. Rogue could think of no one else off the top of his head who had indicated intent to harm him _and_ knew to go after Frosch. That she was in the right place at the right time only made it more suspicious.

So had she been seen since then? Was she out in the open, or had she secluded herself in her house? Did she vanish? Was there a good reason why she left, or no explanation at all? Not that she couldn't take a job and get out of town for a while that way. She did it all the time when she didn't feel like being social.

"Rogue?" Levy asked. "Earth to Rogue."

"Sorry," Rogue said. "Um… those fruit… I know you want me to eat healthy, but they smell way too sweet. It's making me queasy."

Those strawberries looked _delicious_ , but one had to make sacrifices for those they loved.

"Oh. But you had such a small lunch. I thought you should eat _something_."

The baby was big, and his body wasn't built to hold a baby in the first place, so there was little room for food even if he knew he ought to eat more. Rogue had given up full meals and switched to a steady stream of snacks, and it had been a while since his list snack. He was, in fact, hungry. And those strawberries were tempting, but he smiled and said, "Maybe something sour?"

"Sour… sour... I'll go look."

Levy set the book down and ran to the kitchen, where Rogue knew that Gajeel had nothing sour. Still, it would be too blasted _obvious_ to make a run for it the second she turned her back. Gajeel had told them about how he was underweight previously from sever morning sickness, and Levy had insisted that obeying cravings was supposed to help with nausea. She and Gray, thus, would always find him whatever he asked for, for fear that he would starve otherwise. One of them would run to the store, and he could distract the other and have one fewer tails when his escape was noticed.

Rogue counted off the seconds while he waited, and several minutes later Levy poked her head into the room.

"Gajeel doesn't have anything. I'm going to run to the store, alright? Lemonade sound good?"

"That's too sweet."

"Oh… Right. Maybe regular lemons? I'll find something! Promise!"

It took less than a minute after Levy left for Gray to come inside. As if Levy weren't already relaying everything to Rogue, Gray explained that Levy had left to buy groceries. Rogue nodded along and declined Gray's offer for company. He could go to Gajeel's room and watch cheesy romance movies just fine on his own.

The grim smile Gray gave while okaying that plan told Rogue that his guard would likely stand right outside Gajeel's door, which was fine. It was early enough in the morning that that shadows from Gajeel's neighbor's house still fell in through the window. He would give Gray a few minutes to settle in and lower his guard, and then he'd make a run for it. If he was lucky, he could have a half an hour's lead before anyone noticed he was gone. With Gajeel and Natsu out of town looking for Frosch, Gray would have to sacrifice precious minutes tracking Wendy down before he could even begin a proper search for Rogue. And that would come after he figured out how to explain the situation to Wendy without giving away too much information.

In a way, it was vexing that people he was only acquainted with on good terms were doing a better job of monitoring him than longtime friends. If Sting had been half as much of a hassle to sneak away from, Rogue might have resigned himself to owning up to his guild. Grateful as he was to have gotten out of having to do so, he didn't like that Sting read him worse than _Gray_ would.

Then again, Gray knew Rogue wanted to run away and Sting had never suspected it, and running from Sting was the precedent setter. That was another thought that Rogue didn't like to dwell on.

Rogue let Gray follow him upstairs, then shut himself in Gajeel's room. He considered locking the door, but then Gray would only be more agitated about what he did. As it was, Gray already yelped in indignation when Rogue slammed the door in his face.

"Hey!"

"I just want some privacy!" Rogue yelled back, doing his best to raise his voice an octave so it sounded like he might cry. "You people keep br-breathing down my neck… and…"

And now he was crying. Stupid mood swings. At least it aided his not-quite act that when Gray shoved the door open, Rogue was furiously trying to rub his cheeks dry.

"Oh… Sorry. Um… I'll give you a minute."

As much as he wanted to take that minute to calm himself, this was golden chance to escape. Gray was almost as awkward around the distraught as Gajeel, and Rogue knew he'd have plenty of time before Gray found the nerve to open the door again and see how he was doing. He took one last, brief stab at drying his cheeks, then melded into the shadows and slipped out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rogue: *pretends to cry*  
> Rogue: *actually cries*  
> Rogue: Fucking mood swings


	19. Last To Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sting is finally let in on the Minerva situation.

Sting dug through guild records for a list of all active jobs, finding Minerva's in more time than it would have taken had he not carelessly thrown papers everywhere. Stupid, useless Rufus couldn't remember what job Minerva left on the other day.

If asked, he wouldn't be able to tell anyone _what_ emotion was making him act so impatient. Not that anyone would ask, when he looked ready to rip off the head of whoever came too close. He was livid. Angry, hurt, betrayed, confused, exasperated, and terrified.

He was angry with Gajeel. Stupid Gajeel who _promised_ to do everything to keep Rogue safe, but had neglected to mention that one of the jobs they gave Rogue was cut short because Rogue got anxious when someone he was spying on said they _wanted him dead_. Stupid, stupid Gajeel. At least they told Rogue that they had all the information they needed and he could work elsewhere, then found someone else to handle that job.

He was exasperated because Gajeel hadn't mentioned _who_ wanted Rogue dead? Why? Because Rogue was afraid he would look petty if they brought his suspicions to anyone who knew he liked Sting, and because Gajeel felt weird bringing Minerva up when Sting kept dodging discussion about her. Like either of those reasons justified _not mentioning when someone in your guild snuck behind the master's back and recruited dark mages to out and out_ murder _a guildmate._

He felt betrayed because, damn it all, he'd been certain Minerva was _changed_ this time. She'd cried and begged forgiveness and sworn she was done doing whatever she could to grab for more power. Now she wasn't content to bully and terrorize Sting over the breakup. She was targeting the reason for their breakup as well. Rogue had never discouraged Sting from Minerva, and even helped most of the time (to Sting's knowledge—Rogue had sabotaged Sting once or twice in little moments that Sting only learned about well after the fact). Rogue had even meant to leave a note for Sting _not_ to follow him. Rogue had zero personal fault in the breakup. Minerva had no right to target him for it, and her doing so vastly eclipsed Rogue's refusal to tell Sting all those months ago that Minerva was playing dumb with him.

And it hurt to think that because he botched things with Minerva so badly, Rogue and Frosch and Lector might all be in danger. It hurt even more to doubt a guildmember. No matter how many times he saw Minerva turn cruel, he could never comprehend it. Never process it. Never expect to see it again. And he didn't want to believe she was behind Lector and Frosch's disappearance, even if, when the possibility of the cats being hostages was raised, Gajeel's theory was the only explanation that provided a culprit with reasonable means and a recognizable motive.

But she was the most likely suspect, and that terrified Sting, because he remembered the last time Minerva took Lector, and while Lector had never told Sting what his time as a hostage was like, he'd never been able to support Sting's pursuit of Minerva. If even Rogue, who was madly in love with Sting, could pretend to cheer Sting on, then Sting didn't want to know what Lector's holdup was.

He _really_ didn't want to believe it was her, and so he had to make sure before he let himself completely lose it.

If it was her, then she knew Rogue was onto her. Like an idiot, Sting had told Minerva about the different jobs Rogue was assigned. He'd never mentioned Rogue's current job, nor where Rogue was hiding or who employed him. Those were all things that could be used to track him down when Rogue didn't want to be found, but he'd complained to Minerva about the jobs that Rogue had finished. Spying on an enemy guild was one that he'd been particularly upset about, and now that he thought back on it, Minerva had grilled Sting to see if he heard anything Rogue reported form that mission. (Sting hadn't.) Villain or not, Minerva at least knew that Rogue saw her calling for his death.

Minerva left town the same day that Sting last saw Lector and Frosch. Sting hadn't thought anything of it when they were gone for some time, because they left late enough that it would be hard to make it to Kardia by nightfall whether they took the train or flew. And if Lector lingered to badger Rogue about coming home, he might spend enough time in Kardia that it would be another day still before returning. Enough time had passed before Sting realized something was wrong that he wouldn't have even thought to connect Minerva's presence, had Gajeel not mentioned anything.

Then again, he also hadn't known Minerva was telling people she wanted Rogue _dead in an unmarked grave_ , so he thought he could be forgiven for not finding her suspicious.

Well, he suspected her now, and he had the job she'd supposedly left on in hand. Taking out a giant demon for the town of Borbury. He would verify she showed up in the first place, speak with her, and confront her upfront. If she had Lector, then he knew from past experience that she wouldn't mind admitting to it and giving her demands on the spot.

Sting's hand hovered over the guild's communication lacryma before he steeled himself to send the call out.

The mayor's secretary appeared in the crystal, and Sting tried to smile for her, but it seemed he failed. She looked frightened.

"B-Borbury city office. The mayor is in a meeting but… Is something the matter? I can get him for you?"

"No. You'll do. I need to ask about a mage of mine who took the demon slaying job your town sent us."

"The demon… which guild is this?" the woman asked.

Odd. If you didn't follow magic news, you could miss knowing the names of Sabertooth's top members, but Sabertooth itself was a household name. Second only to Fairy Tail. And Sting was proud of the fact that they were known for things _other_ than breaking everything. Even if the woman didn't recognize Minerva, she ought to know what guild had taken the town's request.

"Sabertooth," Sting said. "I'm the guildmaster of Sabertooth. One of my mages left to take down the demon that's been harassing you."

"No one's shown up. Definitely no one from _Sabertooth_ ," the woman said. Sting felt his stomach sink, and his face must have shown it, because the woman added, "There haven't been any serious accidents, so I can't imagine anything happened to this made of yours en route. You must have mixed up your job records. We never even received notice that the job _had_ been accepted, so we weren't expecting a mage anyway."

"I see… Sorry. I must have looked at the wrong papers."

The crystal went dark, and Sting checked the record in his hand again. January seventh, Minerva left to stop a demon in Borbury.

Not _once_ since Sting became guildmaster had he bothered with filing job records himself. Rogue took over that task two hours into Sting's official tenure. It bothered him that Sting was putting it off until later in the day, and he (likely rightfully) thought Sting would lose the papers. Sting left it to Rogue after that until Rogue suddenly wasn't there, at which point Yukino and Rufus took over.

The system was imperfect. Rogue usually picked _one_ substitute to handle things while he and Sting were gone, but Rogue had meant for no one to realize he was leaving, which meant there had been no preparation to fill his shoes in his absence. Yukino and Rufus stepped up together because Rogue often left work to one or the other of them, and because Sting was too distracted looking for Rogue to formally place someone in charge. They staggered when they went out on jobs so one or the other was always there to handle papers, but when both were there at once, it was easy for things to get confusing as people tried to sort out what had been reported too who. It would be easy to deliberately mix things up such that job was registered as accepted, but no notice was sent to the client.

Sting's presence only worsened confusion, since he was technically the master but had never officially delegated any work he didn't do to others in the guild. Rogue just did the work that Sting didn't bother with. No one ever knew exactly how much Sting would handle, which worked just fine when Rogue acted like Sting's shadow and was there to snatch anything Sting set aside, but was a mess when Sting was in one corner of the guild, Yukino upstairs, and Rufus in the yard outside.

A lump formed in his throat when Sting thought, not for the first time, of how much he took Rogue for granted, but he shoved those thoughts back. Guilt and pity could wait. Frosch and Lector were missing, and Sting would be shocked to hear if Rogue hadn't _already_ done something reckless looking to reclaim Frosch. He couldn't afford to be careless in his condition.

Next time they met, Sting would gush out every apology and thanks Rogue deserved. For now, he needed to focus on Minerva so there could _be_ a next time.

He switched the lacryma back on, this time signaling for Fairy Tail. Minerva wasn't where she ought to be, and they were the ones who'd seen her a half a dozen times at meetings she ought not to be at.

There was no response the first time, and on Sting's second attempt he got not Makarov or Gajeel, but Mirajane's Yukino-doppelganger sister. Just because she looked like a guildmate, Sting smiled for her and said "Hello" rather than immediately insisting he speak to someone else.

"Is there anything you need?" not-Yukino asked. For the life of him, Sting couldn't remember her name.

"Yes! Is Gajeel there? It's urgent."

Her distressed look told him the answer before she said, "He left about an hour ago. I know he planned to stop by his house first, but he must be gone by now. I can still send Jet to check, if you want. He has the best chance of catching—"

"No. Let him go." He would be out searching on his own, and Sting wanted as many people as possible on the hunt. Especially informed people. Not only would that speed up the search for Frosch and Lector, but the more of an effort Rogue saw put into tracking down Frosch, the less likely he would be to take matters into his own hands.

Although Sting knew Rogue was staying at Gajeel's at the moment, and Gajeel could have only stopped by his house first to let Rogue know that Lector was missing too. What a dumb thing to tell him in his condition. It would only agitate him more. Hopefully he hadn't also mentioned that Minerva was their only suspect.

"If Gajeel isn't there, then can I speak to Makarov? He should know this too."

"Oh! Yes! One second."

Not-Yukino ran to find Makarov, and as she disappeared from the image in the crystal, Sting saw a bar brawl in full swing behind where the girl had stood. No magic, but given that Mirajane was in on the fighting herself, this was probably a strictly enforced handicap to keep the building intact. Sting thought it was weird that she hadn't been the one to take his call.

Mirajane had Bickslow in a full-nelson when Makarov entered the image, calmly ignoring the chaos behind him.

"Is something the matter?"

"You sent Rogue to spy on a group of dark mages, and pulled him out when he felt like he might be killed," Sting said. It felt wrong to bring Minerva up. He hadn't had the chance to confront her yet, and he couldn't condemn her to another guild without letting her make her case first.

"I… My apologies." Makarov bowed. "I didn't think there would be anyone Rogue couldn't handle, and I asked him in the first place because I didn't expect him to be on the radar of anyone there. I had to give him _some_ task. He wouldn't take pay otherwise, and Gajeel thought he might starve himself and live on the streets before he resigned himself to going home."

"Okay. Fine. Where did those mages meet?"

"Pardon?"

Speaking through gritted teeth, Sting asked, "Where. Did. They. Meet?"

"I… I'll get the address." Makarov picked his guild's lacryma up and carried it with him to his office.

"Please do. I think someone I'm looking for might be there, and I need to see them _now_."

"You might not like what you see," Makarov said, which was an obnoxiously polite way of saying he'd heard the same account Gajeel did of Minerva being there.

"As master, it's something I can't turn a blind eye to. Besides, I've looked the other way for too many problems regarding Rogue lately, and it's only created _more_ problems for both of us. I'm grateful to you and Gajeel for watching over him for me while everything… resolves itself. Until then, I'd like to make sure that any other problems that might come up are either properly addressed, or proven to be a non-issue."

Setting his crystal down on a desk, Makarov said, "That's a good attitude to take. Should I tell Rogue you're doing your best to make amends?"

"Probably not. Whatever this whole affair is about, I think he blames himself for it. He'll just feel worse if he hears I'm doing the same."

Makarov grimaced, aware of Rogue's guilt complex. He probably knew what the exact issue was that made Rogue run, but he wouldn't tell Sting. No one would tell Sting. Even _Frosch_ wouldn't tell Sting, and half the time Frosch didn't even remember that secrets as a concept existed. It seemed rather unfair, given that is was an issue Rogue had with _him_ , that he was the only one Rogue decreed couldn't hear what the issue was.

"I'll just tell him that you're looking into that report that someone is after him, then," Makarov decided. "Poor thing's a ball of frayed nerves, from what I've heard. It should help calm him down a bit."

"He won't calm down until someone places Frosch in his hands," Sting said. From experience, he knew that Rogue was non-functional when it came to Frosch-related disasters. He would be shocked if Rogue even spared a moment to consider that he was on a hit-list. It would probably occur to him that Frosch might be a hostage against him, but not that his own wellbeing was in jeopardy. Which made it all the more important that Sting get to the bottom of things. "If you tell him I also have a lead on her disappearance, that might help. Did you find the address?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is why open communication is important to the success of a relationship. If you hide things from your bf, how is he going to know that his crazy psycho ex kidnapped your frog and is plotting to kill you?


	20. Poor Communication Kills

Rogue almost went to Sabertooth first. Sure, he would undo months of work hiding his pregnancy, but it was where Minerva was most likely to be. Even if she was out, the guild kept a record of every job taken, and he could track her down through that.

At least, the guild was _supposed_ to keep a record. Sting was too lazy to handle half his own work, and the task of record keeping usually fell to Rogue. He spent so much time agonizing over a goodbye note for Sting that he forgot to hide instructions for who to delegate what task to in his absence. For all he knew, no one stepped in and Sabertooth burned to the ground after he left, and Gajeel didn't tell him so he wouldn't feel worse about leaving than he already did.

He was in the midst of purchasing a ticket to go home when it occurred to him that if Minerva really was the culprit, she wouldn't hang around town. Not if she took Lector. If she was done following Sting everywhere then she had most likely returned to her old pattern of stopping by, then vanishing for days as well. Besides, Sting was bound to already be on the hunt for the cats in the area where they went missing, and since Lector was gone too he would be as determined on his quest as Rogue was.

Instead, he caught a train going the opposite direction. It was a longshot, but he knew one other place where Minerva might be, and wherever she was, that was where he was most likely to find Frosch.

-o-

Sneaking into the old, abandoned building was harder than it had been two months earlier. Rogue had to conserve his magic, which meant getting around obstacles through good old fashioned legwork and climbing. Easy enough, when you were an active guild mage rather than out of practice and in your third trimester. More than once just _getting_ to the building, Rogue had to stop and sit, trying to alleviate the stress of the child on his back.

Were Rogue focused on anything other than finding Frosch, he might have worried about any unexpected familiar scents. Since all he cared about was that Minerva probably had Frosch and her scent was so fresh that she had to be on the premise, he didn't care about the fact that Sting's scent was equally strong. Sting was looking for Lector, obviously, and Minerva probably had Lector too. Two people would find her faster than one.

It wasn't until he rounded a corner and saw a head of bright straw hair that Rogue's mind threw on the brakes. Not fucking Sting's life over as badly as he fucked his own wasn't _as_ important as Frosch, but that didn't mean he could abandon all caution.

Unfortunately, remembering caution only came after Rogue swore out loud, and ducking behind the corner before Sting could turn his head didn't change the fact that Sting knew his voice and scent. If Sting had discounted the smell earlier, he knew Rogue was there now.

But… but that was alright. Sting promised to stay away, so…

"Rogue? What the hell are you doing here? It's not safe!"

Sting's voice was close, and getting closer fast. Rogue looked around frantically for somewhere to hide, but the nearest door was too far away with no shadows creating a direct line to it, and the hall was empty of furniture.

Then Sting turned the corner and stood right in front of him, and Rogue dropped his gaze, waiting for the inevitable.

"Oh, wow. You really blew up."

From all of Gajeel's teasing, Rogue's immediate reaction was to blush, but what made him tear up was that he had no idea how to explain his size without telling the truth. He looked up at Sting, trembling, fighting back tears, and waited for the question he couldn't answer.

Sting, rather than ask, regarded Rogue's expression with concern, then turned scarlet.

"S-sorry! I forgot. You're not supposed to comment on that, right? I went and asked around for what the etiquette was for this, but after you left I guess I let it slip from memory."

…What?

_What._

"You _knew?_ "

Sting looked surprised—and twice as embarrassed as Rogue—by the question. "Was I not supposed to? It seemed really obvious. Your scent changed, and all the symptoms, and you kept saying that it wouldn't last more than a year and there aren't many things that take a person completely out of commission for that short a time. I mean, injuries, sure, but I knew you weren't _injured_. You didn't say anything, so I though you must not have wanted anyone else in the guild to know, but you didn't think I wouldn't notice your _scent?_ "

He knew. He knew the entire time. Rogue didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"Wait. _Shit_ , Rogue. You didn't leave to keep me from finding out, did you?"

Cry. Rogue decided to cry.

"Whoa. H-hey." Sting pulled Rogue into a hug, and Rogue made no attempt to resist. This was what he'd wanted most for months. "What's wrong?"

"I t-tried really h-h-hard."

"I… Sorry." Sting awkwardly patted Rogue on the head. "I noticed all the wrong things, I guess. I figured out your big secret, but never thought you'd leave. And if I'd only noticed your feelings sooner—"

This was _far_ too much awareness from Sting for Rogue's liking, and he shoved himself out of the embrace.

He'd known, of course. He'd heard enough to piece together that Sting found out that Rogue was in love with him. Rufus or Dogenbal or some other traitor probably told Sting right after Rogue left. But there was a difference between strongly suspecting it and having it confirmed, and Rogue didn't want the subject broached. Not when Sting knew about the baby the entire time and still chased after Minerva for months. Not when Sting might at least not know _he_ was the father. Rogue knew where he stood. If he couldn't spend the rest of his life running away from his misdeeds, then he could at least spend the rest of his life running away from every chance Sting had to outright reject him.

"Rogue…"

"Frosch," Rogue said. "Frosch is missing, and—"

"I know. Her and Lector. That's why I'm here."

Rogue nodded. "Good. We should look in—"

Sting caught Rogue's sleeve as Rogue tried to move down the hall. "You aren't part of any _we_. You are pregnant, and quite likely the real target here. What Gajeel was thinking letting you in on the fact that Minerva was a suspect, I have no idea, but him bringing you here was a mistake. We, as in _Gajeel and I_ will handle this. You go home, keep your kid safe, and wait for us to bring Frosch and Lector back."

"Gajeel didn't bring me anywhere!" Rogue snapped, already mentally preparing his lecture for the next time he saw Gajeel, since it appeared the jerk had attempted to withhold information. "I came on my own. I promised Frosch I would take care of her, and I'm _not_ backing down."

"Congratulations on sneaking in without Gajeel noticing, then. Look, Rogue, I get it. Trust me. But you have more than Frosch to look after," Sting gave Rogue's stomach a pat, which he did _not_ have permission to do even if it _was_ his child. "And not to be rude, but you're not going to be a lot of help in a fight. If this really is about you, you'll probably be one more thing for Gajeel and I to look after. _Please_. I've already been without you for _months_ , and now Lector and Frosch are missing and the last thing I want is to lose your permanently on top of all of this."

That last line killed any protest in Rogue's throat. Maybe Sting didn't want him as a lover, but that didn't mean Sting didn't love him in _some_ form. And Rogue was too starved for Sting's affection to snub that because it wasn't the kind of love he wanted.

Besides, Sting was right, he was kidding himself if he thought he was going to be any help. Searching for Frosch in the wilderness? Sure. Maybe. Confronting Minerva, who wanted him dead and had always been stronger than Rogue anyway? Not on a good day, and especially not when he was pregnant.

Rogue's shoulders slumped in resignation, and he took a step backwards in the direction he'd come from. "You'll save her?"

"We don't know Minerva has her. It could just be a coincidence she's here." Sting made a face that said he thought otherwise, but as guildmaster he couldn't haphazardly throw accusations around without proof. "But if she's here, I'll save her. If not, I'll find her."

"Okay… I… I'm trusting you, Sting."

" 'Bout time you started doing that again."

Sting said it with a grin and a chuckle, but that didn't stop the words from making Rogue cringe. "Sorry."

"I'll take you staying safe as an apology. Go. I've got this."

It killed Rogue to leave Frosch in someone else's hands, even Sting, but Sting was right. He could be trusted to look after Frosch, and Rogue not only needed to take his baby's safety into consideration, but was also out of practice when it came to combat. Resigning himself to his uselessness, Rogue turned to leave.

"Oh. Rogue, wait."

Rogue spun around. "What can I do?"

"Go. Seriously. But it just occurred to me, now that we're allowed to talk about it, that I have no idea what you're calling the kid."

Rogue had spent months preparing for parenthood. He'd read up on baby proofing a house, gathered what supplies were needed, roped Frosch into letting him practice applying diapers, and memorized how to tell when you could introduce each type of food and how to go about adding it to their diet. Every technicality involved in childrearing, Rogue had researched.

Actually envisioning himself raising a kid? Never happened. Every time his mind tried to go there, it went to making sure Sting wasn't bogged down the same way he would be. Rogue could explain how he would safely bathe a child, but had never envisioned himself actually telling his child it was time for a bath.

"I haven't decided on one yet…"

That was so much less embarrassing to say than 'I totally forgot I have to name the thing.'

"Well, we'll sit down and brainstorm later." Sting gave Rogue his most brilliant smile. "You stay safe until then."

Name it together. Like a married couple. Rogue swallowed hard, forcing back the image of himself not being alone with his child. He wanted that, even if he wanted not to be a burden to Sting even more. "Y-yeah. I'll see you then."

Sting gave him a thumbs up and disappeared back around the corner.

Even though he was out of sight, Rogue waved before turning and sneaking back out of the building. He was about to climb the fence along the perimeter, staring at the obstacle with disdain, when something important occurred to him.

Sting thought that Rogue had followed Gajeel, but Rogue asked when buying his ticket, and Gajeel had grabbed a train bound for Sabertooth. There was no Gajeel in the area to meet up with Sting and help him fight Minerva. Sting might have felt the need to talk about her as though she wasn't obviously guilty, but Rogue was the one who saw her talk about wanting him dead, and after Frosch disappeared while she was there, he had no doubts.

He might be a burden to Sting in a fight, but he could still be of use warning Sting. Or maybe he would be allowed to hide in the shadows and help with sneak attacks, or…

No. Sting was right. The baby came first, and Minerva wouldn't hurt Frosch until she had someone present to make threats too. He needed to warn Sting so they could go leave together and call Gajeel for backup.

Teaming up with Sting to kick her ass could come after the baby was born.

Rogue hurried back into the building, following his tracks to where he'd last seen Sting, then following Sting's scent from there. It was a large place, sure, and if Minerva was onto them then she could be leading Sting in circles, but there was only so much ground to cover.

After ten minutes of fruitless search, Rogue gave up on relying on his nose alone and cupped his hands around his mouth.

"Sting?"

No response.

" _Sting?_ "

This time, Rogue was rewarded with an answer in the form of a bag falling down over his head and a knife coming up to press against his neck.

"My dearest apologies, Rogue," Minerva purred in his ear, "But a reunion between the two of you is one thing I cannot permit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right! You were reading a miscommunication plot the entire time! BWAHAHAHAHA!
> 
> *ahem*
> 
> At the point that I was really dead-set on the idea that Sting knew all along about the pregnancy, I had to go back and correct the terminology in a couple chapters so Sting called it Rogue's 'condition' instead of an 'illness'. Although I did get a bit too heavy-handed once and have him start to ask Rogue how many months until he was due. While I was at it, I adjusted the help he offered to include some natural remedies that folks who like to manage health with diet swear by for pregnancies (like the raspberry leaf). And then there was also him being confident that Rogue slept with someone.
> 
> This wasn't out of left field. I swear.
> 
> (Also, _I_ might have forgotten about naming the baby until it occurred to me that Sting would ask, which is why the name ends up not being settled on until the kid is almost born.)


	21. Hostage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rogue is Minerva's hostage

Sting was going to _murder_ Rogue. Tie him up and lock him in a basement where he couldn't get himself into any more trouble until his baby was born, and then _murder_ him. After all that effort Sting put into convincing Rogue that it was for the best if he got away, it didn't even take fifteen minutes for the _moron_ to double back, return to the most dangerous place he could currently be, and then start shouting to announce his presence to anyone else there.

Could he not smell Minerva? Did he think she wasn't out to get him? Sting still tried his best to at least sound like he had faith in her, but since catching her scent, he knew deep down that she was the catnapper.

As Sting raced in the direction of Rogue's voice and prayed that the moron only stopped yelling because he realized what a dumb idea it was, and not because someone _else_ silenced him.

Following Minerva's scent was a task and a half. Always had been. When you could functionally teleport, the trail you left would end, and pick up again elsewhere. Minerva couldn't go more than a few hundred feet, and Sting had Rufus and Orga standing at the perimeter with orders to alert Sting if they saw her try to teleport away—for all the good they were if they couldn't catch Rogue sneaking in. (Not entirely fair, when Rogue could travel an indefinitely distance through shadows, but still!) Minerva must have seen at least one of the watchers, because she was circling the building. But her teleporting made her scent trail disjointed, and because she'd laid down so many fresh tracks, it was impossible to tell where she had been most recently.

Rogue, on the other hand, might have been better at traveling longer distances than Minerva unseen, but he still left a scent. So when Sting found a Rogue's scent beyond the point where they last crossed paths, he was confident that it was the right trail to follow, and when it ended abruptly, he knew why Rogue had stopped yelling.

He'd lost Rogue again.

-o-

At first it was all Sting could do to put one foot in front of the other, but after a few minutes, he could force his brain to function again.

Minerva believed she couldn't leave. She had to. Sting had been stalking her around the building for hours before Rogue showed up, and if Rogue was the target then Minerva had no reason to linger there.

Rogue was the target. Even before he was taken, Sting knew that. That Minerva picked a spot where she knew that Rogue knew he might find her supported that. What Sting needed to figure out now was _why_ Rogue was a target. If Minerva wanted Rogue dead as fast as possible, then Rogue would have died well before Sting found the end of his scent trail. If she wanted something before she killed him, then Sting needed to figure out what, and where she would take Rogue to accomplish that.

The problem was, there was no obvious reason to want Rogue dead. If it was something that applied before Rogue ran away, he wouldn't have lived long enough to leave town in the dead of night. He would have vanished one night, sure, but not in a way where he could ever be found again. Sting couldn't see Minerva's interest in Rogue having to do with the pregnancy either. For one, the only person who had a vested interested in Rogue and his baby was the father, whether that be avoiding parenthood or claiming the kid as their own. Minerva, Sting was confident, wasn't the father. Whatever fluke of magic let Rogue conceive likely wasn't strong enough to overcome _two_ people's biology, and even then, he couldn't see Rogue sleeping with Minerva. Sleeping with _someone_ to try and get over how Sting was into Minerva, sure, but not Minerva herself.

Aside from which, Sting was confident that Minerva hadn't even known Rogue was pregnant. Yukino knew, although she had strict orders not to tell anyone—even Rogue. Sting needed someone to verify that Rogue had done a better job of hiding his pregnancy than his crush, since he obviously hadn't wanted either to be well known, and Yukino had proved herself more perceptive when it came to people than Sting was. Sting and Yukino both had assessed Minerva as in the dark about Rogue. She had been frustrated even with the fact that Sting and Yukino even cared about his secret health event.

So Minerva wanted Rogue for something that happened after Rogue left, and it wasn't the thing that Rogue left over and had been focused on dealing with. Whatever that might be. Rogue hadn't even _done_ anything to her.

Well, he'd spied on her, but near as Sting could tell, she wanted him dead before she found out about that.

Other than that, the only reason Minerva could have it out for Rogue was if she was upset that he upset Sting, and Sting knew she wasn't. Minerva had actively encouraged him to _forget_ about Rogue. She huffed and pouted and _hated_ how Sting was more concerned with his missing friend than she was with him. When Sting broke up with her, she'd even rightfully accused him of having forgotten about her over Rogue and…

Oh.

Oops.

Sting had screwed up _bad_ with how he handled Minerva. So bad he might just get multiple people killed paying for it.

He shook that thought away. He messed up with her, but it wasn't like he made Minerva a murderous psycho-ex. Her poor way of coping with Sting losing interest in her the moment something happened with Rogue was her issue. Sting needed to focus on stopping her, not pinning her actions on himself.

She'd wanted Rogue dead before anyone else found him, Sting was told, but that was before he broke up with her. Now that he'd left her over Rogue, now that he'd reunited with Rogue, he could only hope her plans changed. She had to know by now that he knew what she'd done, and she wouldn't get away with killing Rogue discretely and hiding the body. If Sting was her real goal and Rogue only a means to an end, then Rogue was of more value to her alive now.

Sting could only how that she saw it that way, too.

-o-

"Sting will stop you," was the first thing Rogue managed to get out after recovering from the shock of the knife.

"Sting doesn't know where we are."

"Sting knows I'm here. He can follow my scent."

Just to drive Rogue nuts, Minerva warped them to the roof. His head was still covered, but he could feel the evening air nipping at his skin.

Only once Rogue's scent trail was broken did Minerva ask, "You think he heard you?"

"We've already spoken. He knows I'm here. He knows you're here. He knows you took Frosch."

They had only circumstantial evidence that she was the one who took Frosch, but it did her no good to play innocent when she had a knife to Rogue's throat. Rather than feign ignorance as to what Rogue was talking about, she said, "And Lector."

"And Lector. So let all of us go before Sting and Gajeel force you to. You don't _gain_ anything from this," Rogue argued. "Frosch and I were staying out of everyone's way, and taking Lector won't endear you to anybody."

"On the contrary, you are very much an obstacle to me."

"Only because you took Frosch. Give her back."

"Since your departure, " Minerva corrected. "You have been an obstacle to me since your departure. In all likelihood you stood in my way even longer. I've seen the way you gaze at Sting."

Minerva couldn't see it, since his face was under a bag, but Rogue balked. "This is about _Sting?_ "

"I put tremendous effort into claiming him, I'll have you know. First I had to catch his eye. Then I had to throwing him just enough morsels of attention to feel there was something worth the effort of pursuing me as I established that _he_ was the one looking to _me_ for approval. Then you went and dashed my plans to pieces. You vanished, and suddenly all he cared about was you. Poor Rogue is sick. Poor Rogue is all alone. Poor Rogue must be so scared. Poor Rogue doesn't have me there to support him. Suddenly it was _I_ who fought to get _his_ attention, and at the point that he heard word from you once more, he didn't calm down and return to worshipping me. He stopped caring that I existed."

There were parts of Minerva's rant that pleased Rogue. Having spent so long as the one swept aside by Sting while he chased after someone else, it felt good to hear just how deeply Sting had worried for him after he left. Not that Gajeel hadn't gone into detail, but Gajeel was prone to exaggeration when displeased, and he hadn't been happy with just how much Sting cared.

Instead of basking in that information, Rogue found himself caught on the detail of Minerva deliberately feigning ignorance and toying with Sting since before Sting even fully fell for her. How many nights had Rogue followed Sting out and watch his best friend drink himself to oblivion to erase the hurt of having gone ignored by Minerva?

"You're a real bitch."

Not the smartest thing to say when that bitch had a knife to his neck, but Rogue couldn't think of anything he wanted to tell her more than that. All that time he'd spent feeling selfish for thinking Sting would be better with him, and now he knew there was no one worse for Sting than the woman he was willing to surrender his love to.

"Perhaps, but who do you plan to tell of my misdeeds?"

Rogue finally paid attention to the knife. "You can't kill me."

"Give me one good reason."

"Sting knows I'm here, and that you're here, and that you want me dead." He'd said as much before, more or less, but let himself be sidetracked by Frosch. "If anything happens to me, Sting will know you did it. Not only will you _never_ have him then, but you'll spend the rest of your life on the run from the law."

As it was, the only reason she wasn't already in prison for dark guild involvement was because Sting had covered up her misdeeds. It had been meant as an olive branch. Part of Sting's effort to reclaim everyone who Jienmma's ideals had driven from the guild. Now Rogue wondered if Minerva took it as something more.

"And I suppose you have an alternate proposal for what I should do with you?"

"Well, letting me go would be nice."

"But that wouldn't bring Sting back to me, would it?"

"No," Rogue admitted, "it wouldn't." Not after she'd taken so many people dear to Sting.

"But you're right. Cutting off your head now only shoots me in the foot," Minerva said. "So I suppose I need to find another way to make use of you. Holding Frosch hostage to make you leave wouldn't do me any good either. Sting was willing to trek all around the countryside for you. He would only track you down again."

"Unfortunately." Or not, given that Sting knew about the baby the entire time. Rogue was still miffed to think that he went through so much trouble for nothing.

"Then perhaps we might try something else," Minerva said. "Something that will turn Sting's concern for you in my favor."

"Like what?" Rogue asked, heart pounding in his chest. If there was anything he wanted less than dying, it was being turned against Sting.

"Simple. Sting is one who can focus on anything with a singlemindedness that is to be applauded when he feels you are in danger. If pleasing me is necessary for your continued existence, then he will please."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it. The explanation for Minerva's behavior throughout the story. She was courting him in a super manipulative way, Rogue accidentally screwed with her plans, and she sucked at improvising.
> 
> And also doesn't cope well with failure.


	22. Rescue

After an hour of frantically running in circles around the building, Sting checked the perimeter to make sure Minerva hadn't left. Since this took him by Orga and Rufus, he grabbed them as well. Rogue snuck past them, so they were worthless as lookout anyway. Searching for Rogue's scent hadn't lead Sting to Rogue, but it had lead him to the realization that Gajeel wasn't there—by Rufus's account he'd stopped at Sabertooth first before making contact to ask where they were. He was on his way, but Rogue had figured he out to come out to the old building on his own.

Which only further supported Sting's growing theory that Minerva picked a place where she expected Rogue to look for her.

Since Gajeel wasn't there to offer backup, Sting was no longer confident that he could take Minerva on. Since Rogue was stolen, Minerva _had_ to be taken on. Since Minerva had to be taken on and Sting didn't feel he could go it alone, and since Rufus and Orga were terrible at securing the perimeter, they could go with Sting to fight Minerva. They had been informed on the way to town that a fight with her was entirely possible, and were happy to join up with Sting to do so, rather than potentially try to stop her from fleeing on their own.

Rogue never gave Sting permission to tell anyone else about his pregnancy, but given Frosch's claims, Sting suspected that he was the main one Rogue wanted left in the dark about it, and Rogue's safety came before his pride. His condition was relevant to the danger he was in and the caution and delicacy the situation warranted, so Sting felt it was acceptable to explain the situation in full.

"Rogue is pregnant," was how he started, and the next few minutes were spent explaining to Ogra and Rufus that he didn't know how it was possible, but it was still the case. Once that was handled, he went on. "He ran to keep us from finding out. Well, me, I guess. I should have pressed him for details on the pregnancy sooner, so he'd have known before he went and ran away that I knew from the start.

"After he vanished and I became kind of… um… _deeply concerned_ —"

"Obsessed," Rufus corrected.

"Thanks. When I became deeply concerned, Minerva suddenly took a really strong interest in me. And not too long after, Rogue was offered a job from Fairy Tail to spy on a dark guild, and caught her working with other criminals and asking that Rogue be killed. No one told me this because _fuck if I know why_ but I should have been informed _months ago_ when _it happened_."

Rufus and Orga both fell a few steps behind Sting as they followed him through the building, unwilling to be too close should his anger turn explosive.

"Apparently she only grew more determined after Rogue and I made contact again, and then when Frosch came to see me after we broke up, Minerva stole her and Lector both, and then came here to nab Rogue when he came to rescue Frosch. But he's still pregnant. Like, _really_ pregnant. I mean, I don't know when exactly he got himself knocked up, but I have a general sense and I know he's not about to pop yet, but he _looks_ like he is. And he hasn't fought at all since he found out he was pregnant. And he couldn't handle Minerva on his own in prime condition. And she caught him and took him somewhere, but I don't think they've left the building yet."

"So we need to find them, rescue her, and beat her back to her senses without endangering Rogue or the baby?" Rufus asked.

"Basically, yeah. And we need to do that before she decides to kill him, if she hasn't already."

"And where's the father in all this?" Orga asked.

"Probably in whatever tavern Rogue picked him up at in the first place. I don't know. We never had the chance to talk about that."

It wasn't a subject Sting wanted to talk about either. He'd known for months that Rogue was no longer a virgin. At first he'd been happy for Rogue, but now that he wanted Rogue himself, he also lamented that someone else was Rogue's first. Selfish, sure, but that's how it was. Since Rogue clearly hadn't wanted to talk to Sting about his pregnancy, Sting figured that the father would forever be a subject to easily avoid.

"Have you considered that it might be you?" Orga asked.

"I can't recall Rogue having anyone else he would want to sleep with," Rufus added.

"I would remember if we did that."

"Would you?" Rufus prodded.

" _Yes._ "

Rogue would never let himself sleep with Sting when he thought Sting wasn't fully alert, even if he knew that Sting had already slept with so many people who didn't care and often were no more in control of themselves that it had stopped mattering to him. Not in the same way it mattered to Rogue. His always sober and longtime virgin mind might care, but one could only wake up from so many drunken flings before they turned into just another drunken fling.

"I still think you're the father," Rufus said.

"Well, you're entitled to think that," Sting told him. "For now, please focus more on rescuing Rogue."

Sting wasn't sure why that earned him snickers. He'd already admitted that he liked Rogue, so it wasn't like his secret crush was exposed.

"So where are they?" Rufus asked, seeing Sting get closer to that outburst.

"I don't know. Minerva's trail is too disjointed to—" A scent blew in from the window, and Sting stopped dead in his tracks. "The roof. They're on the roof."

Orga had to grab Sting to stop him from jumping out the window and attempting to scale the wall. For safety's sake, he held onto his guild's master until they found the stairs, at which point Sting raced up them to the roof.

Sting didn't think of his haste as a mistake until after he threw the doors open and stepped out onto the roof, and was greeted with the sight or Minerva holding Rogue by the edge of the building, a knife dangerously close to poor Rogue's neck. Only then did it occur to Sting that getting there faster didn't do him much good when he left his backup in the dust.

"How wonderful that you could join us." Minerva's smile was so casual it almost crossed the border into lazy.

"What do you want with him?" Sting demanded.

He was only biding his time while he waited for Orga and Rufus, and wasn't the least bit surprised when Minerva smiled and said, "There exists no way by which Rogue could satisfy me. You, however, are a completely different story."

Orga barreled out of the door, crashing into and knocking over Sting.

"She has Rogue!" the oaf bellowed, as if they didn't already _know_ that.

Picking himself up, Sting looked back to Rogue, who had shifted slightly in Minerva's grasp to try and appear smaller. Even when he was a hostage… Sting shook his head. Whatever he'd done to make Rogue feel like they couldn't know about the baby, Sting would never forgive himself for it.

But he could start making amends.

"So take me," Sting offered. On the offhand chance that Orga and Rufus—who emerged just then out of breath—didn't realize he was only trying to create an opening for them, then at least Rogue would be safe. "These two can take Rogue home, and I'll go with you. Sounds good?"

Rogue's head was covered with a bag, but that you couldn't see his face didn't mean you couldn't see him empathetically shake his head. The idiot. They would be kept apart one way or the other, if Minerva wasn't stopped.

"No."

Sting froze in the middle of striding towards Minerva. He'd expected her motives, but not this behavior.

"What?"

"No," Minerva repeated. "If Rogue were to be returned to his friends, then the most sensible course of action would be to abscond with him to some place I cannot reach. He's proven himself fond of vanishing, has he not? Rogue would be safe there, and then who would I know you will not flee as well?"

Bitch.

Sting clenched and unclenched his fist, wondering if he could rush her and give her a black eye to spare her the trouble of applying all that eye shadow before she could slit Rogue's throat or shove him off the roof.

He couldn't. He needed to buy more time. More time for Rufus or Orga or Rogue r even Frosch—wherever she was—to come up with a real plan where Sting could not.

"So what do you want to do, then?" Sting asked. "I thought you wanted us kept apart."

"Naturally, but you will stay apart on my terms. I must be confident that I can snap Rogue's neck if you ever disobey me." Minerva glanced to Rufus and Orga, who had yet to _freaking_ move to some advantageous point to strike from. "This includes our companions. It would never do for the rest of the guild to learn of this deal."

Somehow, Sting got himself so wrapped up in thinking of what Rogue was to _him_ , he forgot that Rogue could be held hostage against anyone else in the guild. Hell, Rogue being pregnant made him a good hostage for anyone, albeit a slightly unconventional one.

"Sting?" Rufus asked.

"How will I know Rogue is alright?" Sting asked. "What's to keep you from killing him the second I look away, and then telling me he's alive under your watch somewhere so I'll keep going along with what you want?"

"I suppose you could be allowed to see him every few months, should you be sincere in pleasing me," Minerva purred.

Plenty of time to go to Fairy Tail for help. Even if Minerva never took her eye off of Sting again, she couldn't keep constant watch over Orga and Rufus as well. The only issue was what might happen if Rogue went into labor during that time. Stress could cause that to happen prematurely, right?

Sting had to count the dates in his head to reconfirm for himself that Rogue wasn't due in only a couple weeks. Depending on how long this took them, Rogue _would_ have the child in captivity. "What about the baby"

"How surprising that the infant's fate concerns you. Are you the father?" Minerva's tone was light as ever, but there was a hint of aggravation on her face.

Sting would have said no. He and Rogue never slept together, and for as panicked as Rogue had clearly been with his situation, he wouldn't have withheld something as major from Sting as the knowledge that he was about to become a _parent._

The only issue was that depending on how he denied it, Minerva might think he only did so to try and cover up an affair between him and Rogue. Thinking too long about the right way to deny there was anything between them would only convince her as well, so Sting tried to work rapidly to come up with a proper response.

He took too long, because before he could say anything, Rogue asked all too defensively, "Why does it matter who the father is?"

Now, granted, it was entirely reasonable to get defensive when you had an affair with an absentee parent who left you to deal with a pregnancy by yourself. Had Rogue's response come up under other circumstances, Sting would have assumed it was only embarrassment over being alone and pregnant.

But Rogue said that in response to the idea of Sting as the father. Sting, the one person who Rogue had been most determined to hide the pregnancy from.

Sting felt his stomach drop to his feet.

At no point since Rogue left had it stopped hurting to think of how he ran away, but this ripped the wound open as raw as when Rogue first vanished, and wider than before. He was the _father_. He was the father and Rogue _knew_ it. Rogue knew and he ran away to hide it and Sting never even knew it was _possible_ that he might have a child with Rogue.

When… No. He could agonize over the information later. Work through what all he knew to try and figure out what Rogue hid to take his mind off of being made to pleasure Minerva, or ask Rogue himself, depending on how things went. For the time being, what mattered most was making sure Rogue and his baby—Rogue and _their_ baby, got out of this safe.

"I never offered myself to him, and _Rogue_ wouldn't force himself on someone who wasn't interested."

Sting only said it for Minerva, to try and keep the baby safe. And maybe in small part to take a stab at her for what she was doing. Given how Rogue was the one who flinched, there was _definitely_ something that very clearly explained Sting's paternal status that Sting couldn't remember. It took no stretch of the imagination to guess why Sting might not remember something so significant. Weird. Sting could have sworn Rogue would never sleep with a drunk.

Except now that Sting thought of it, Yukino had mentioned Rogue getting drunk alongside Sting on their birthday. Poor bastard. Drunken flings were old hat for Sting, but he knew Rogue put an awful lot of importance on them, He must have beaten himself up for it ever since it happened.

They would have to sit down and talk through that later. For now, what mattered was that there was a later.

"What happens to Rogue's baby?"

Minerva tilted her head to look at Rogue. "I suppose the infant will serve well as a hostage on _Rogue's_ good behavior."

Rogue grabbed Minerva's arm and twisted it.

Sting rushed Minerva before he had time to think about how stupid of Rogue that was, and kicked out to knock to the side when she tried to lash back at Rogue, who now tore at the bag on his head.

"Take Rogue and _run!_ " Sting snapped at Rufus, who didn't need to be told twice. It was Rogue who resisted. "Fucking _run_ you stupid—"

Minerva's foot found Sting's stomach.

Sting wasn't surprised, upon being knocked off his feet, to see Rogue take a protective stance over him. That didn't make him any more pleased by it, and he scrambled to his feet to shove Rogue out of the way before Minerva could attack again.

" _You are pregnant! Go!_ "

The idiot's eyes widened as if he had somehow forgotten this major detail, and he didn't resist when Orga picked him up and ran.

"Rufus!" Sting ducked under another of Minerva's attacks, then sprang up with a punch infused with holy magic. "Do you remember any of Rogue's moves?"

"It's been a long time since I've seen them."

Sting swore. "Forget it. Just back me up, okay?"

He made the mistake of looking back at Rufus for an answer, and for his distraction was hit with a blast of magic.

"You could just kiss her," Rufus suggested, scampering back from an attack aimed at him before launching a lightning strike.

Sting moaned, which Minerva must have taken as a response to the suggestion rather than a reaction to feeling blood ooze down his side.

"What makes Rogue so special?" she demanded. "What makes you want him when he abandons you, while I go ignored?"

Sting could have snapped a dozen answers back at her. Rogue always respected Sting's wishes, even if it meant not getting his own. Rogue was undyingly loyal. Rogue went out of his way not to drag Sting into things that he felt were on him. Rogue never kidnapped anyone and demanded that Sting shower him with affection or he'd kill the hostages. Those were all good reasons indeed to favor Rogue, but it wasn't a simple matter of favoring him.

"I don't know. He loves me, and I think I love him, so it just makes sense."

"You _think_ you love him?"

"Yeah… well…" Despite the situation, Sting felt himself blush. "I haven't had much of a chance to try the whole being in love thing while he's around, and it didn't go so well for me the last time I was baselessly convinced I loved someone. But the way it felt when I realized he was gone—"

A blast of schrapnel rushed past Sting to Minerva, knocking her off the roof.

"Get outta here, dumbass!" Gajeel yelled. "You can be sappy once you're back with Rogue!"

Sting whirled around to see the iron slayer not at the stairway, but climbing over the fencing onto the roof. Gajeel he trusted to handle someone like Minerva, and he wasn't about to object to personally making sure Rogue got out safely. He gave a quick nod and ran for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> his was the worst chapter to write. Anything with a fight scene is the worst thing to write. Fight scenes just suck. I feel like the ending to one is a bit... eh. But then I don't think anyone really read this fic for exciting battle anyway.
> 
> Actually, the scene where Rogue goes to Gajeel's house that first time was also hard. For some reason, it took me a while to get him into the house. But aside from that, this was a fairly easy fic to work through.


	23. Returned

Rogue passed out while Orga carried him out of the building, woke in a soft bed surrounded by Sting's scent, and decided he was still dreaming. Sure, the sensation of his baby kicking at his bladder felt awfully real, but the sensation of Sting's familiar arm draped over him was obviously fake.

Ready for disappointment, Rogue opened his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of Sting, set to the backdrop of an unfamiliar room, watching him with a lazy, half-awake smile.

"Well?" Sting asked.

"Still waiting for the part where I wake up," Rogue muttered.

"I can never get out of bed right away either."

" 'Course not." Rogue shut his eyes again. "You're always hung over."

"…Rogue?"

"G'night."

"Rogue, its morning." Sting tapped Rogue on the shoulder. "Rogue? Rogue, you weren't being literal when you said you were still asleep, were you? It's _morning_ Rogue. Wake up so I can make you breakfast."

What a cruel, dishonest dream.

"If you do that, I'll pass out and never wake up again."

"Whoa. I missed that. I didn't think I would, but it honestly feels nice having you rag on my cooking. I'm better now, though. I haven't poisoned anyone for _seven_ meals in a row."

Rogue opened his eyes and lifted his head to look at Sting incredulously.

"Seriously? That got you up?"

"People trusted you to cook for them _seven_ times since I left?"

Sting put a hand over his heart and gave Rogue a lopsided grin. "You wound me."

"Dream-Sting isn't so annoying," Rogue said. "Am I awake?"

"Took you long enough to figure that one out."

He was awake. Rogue's gaze traveled from Sting's face to his shoulder, then down the muscular arm that was still draped over Rogue. His gaze lingered there longer than it ought to before going down to his stomach, which was definiely not hidden.

Whatever. Sting knew the whole time anyway.

"You should have said something sooner," Rogue said. "Just called it morning sickness once when I'd thrown up, and I'd have known there was no point in running away."

"Well, it's not like I thought you would pull something like that. Besides, if we're talking about things that needed to come out sooner, how about the little detail about me being a dad?"

Rogue looked back up to Sting's no longer smiling face. Whatever other points Gajeel made in their debate about the drunken fling, Rogue had never managed to come up with a good counterpoint for letting Sting decide for himself if he wanted to be a father.

There was really nothing he could say to justify it. "Sorry. I panicked."

"No shit. So what are we looking at here? Twins? We should name one Black and the other White."

"First off, no. Second, it's just one."

"Really? You look fat enough for triplets."

"Please don't. I don't need two Gajeels calling me fat."

"That bastard called you _fat?_ " Sting shoved himself upright in bed. "I'm going to kick his ass!"

There were a lot of things wrong with Sting's indignation that Rogue could point out, but really, Rogue just wanted Sting to lie back down and cuddle up with him. He hadn't earned it. He didn't deserve it. But it felt nice, and he wanted more.

But there was always later. Sting wanted him. Sting _wanted_ him. Sting wanted _him_. Not Minerva. _Him_. Thinking about that alone was enough to make Rogue doubt anew that he was awake.

Incidentally…

"Minerva?"

"In custody. Gajeel wrestled her down while … but…"

Sting pulled a face, and Rogue knew he was torn between wanting to save a troubled guildmember, and not wanting to risk the safety of the rest of his guild. But as far as Rogue was concerned, she was well below worth it, and there were more pressing concerns than what the Council decided for her.

"Frosch? Did you get Frosch back."

"No. I—" Sting had to bolt forward in bed to catch Rogue's arm as he tried to leap to his feet. "She's _safe_! Gajeel and Rufus got her while I covered your escape. He wouldn't let them fly after us on their own after last time, so they stayed with him while he complied with the arrest. He's on his way back now. With guards, I'm told. They need verification that Minerva renegaded or he'll be charged with trying to start a guild war."

Rogue relaxed, easing back onto the hotel mattress. Frosch was safe. Frosch was on her way. He was alive and the baby was kicking and Frosch was safe. He felt himself tear up with relief.

"You okay?"

"Yes. I'm okay. I'm really okay."

Sting must not have believed him, because he pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry it turned out this way. Do you need me to stay here? I was going to go to the station to testify for Gajeel, but…"

Rogue sniffled and rubbed his eyes as dry as he could. "Later. Help me think of baby names. _Not_ Black or White, though."

Sting drew back and inspected Rogue, looking for signs that he was only putting on a brave face. If Rogue weren't so relieved that it all turned out alright, he'd be offended that Sting thought he might by brought to tears over a little thing like someone holding a knife to his neck.

"Gray."

"No."

"Why? Are we having a girl?"

"Boy. Fairy Tail already has a Gray."

"Oh. Lame. Every name in the world is used by someone, y'know. Let's call him Natsu Jr."

" _No._ "

"Did you want Gajeel Jr?"

"Absolutely not."

Maybe including Sting in the name decision was a bad idea after all, but Rogue had to start somewhere. There was no sparing Sting from the responsibility now, and Sting jumped right in anyway. But then, Rogue knew he would. It was why he ran.

And Gajeel wasn't wrong. Whatever moral debate there might be about the night Rogue slept with Sting, it was objectively wrong of him to run and try to hide everything from Sting the way he did.

"You're not mad at me?" Rogue asked.

"No. What are we talking about now?"

"I ran away."

"I guess I'm still upset about that," Sting said. "With myself, mostly. I could feel you getting distant and I was afraid of what would happen if I pushed, so I backed off and gave you space, and left you to deal with everything by yourself. So this time—!" He pulled Rogue into a tight hug. "This time I'm holding onto you with all my life."

Rogue laughed.

"I'm serious. You're not so much as going to the bathroom without me there by your side."

"Okay. Now it's too much."

Come to think of it, Rogue did kind of feel like he was a minute or two away from wetting himself. He let himself enjoy a few seconds more of Sting's embrace, then pushed back. Hugs from Sting wouldn't be a rare treat that he took where he could get anymore. Those arms would be waiting for him when he came back from the toilet.

Sting was out of bed when Rogue exited the bathroom. He looked around, taking note of their location now that he didn't have Sting there to distract him. The hotel was unfamiliar, though not far from the ocean, judging by the smell of salt in the air. They must not have wanted to travel all the way back to Sabertooth without assessing the Minerva situation.

He could hear Rufus and Sting talking in the hall outside, going over a message of which town Gajeel just passed through. A more inland town, which told Rogue that Gajeel was probably dragged to Era and back. He would have to buy him a drink for the trouble, and another for being forced to spend that much time on a train, and several dozen for all the help he'd been in the past months. Particularly since Sting knew all along.

Stepping outside and trying not to look as sheepish as he felt, Rogue asked, "How is Gajeel? Was he hurt in the fight?"

"If he was, he didn't mention it," Sting said. "He's well enough to travel, at least, and Erza and Natsu are with him now. They'd say if he was hurt. I trust them, and you trust them more than you trust me, so you can rest easy… knowing… um… knowing that they…"

Sting bit his lip and looked away, realizing more had come out than he intended.

No one spoke. Sting averting his gaze as Rogue watched him with guilt, and Rufus standing awkwardly beside them. One minute passed, then two, then three. At five, Rufus coughed and excused himself to go get breakfast.

"I'm not—"

"Mad. I believe you."

Rogue hadn't made Sting mad. He'd just hurt Sting deeply and shattered all the trust built up between them by running away without warning specifically to hide that he was pregnant with _Sting's_ baby. Suddenly, Rogue didn't feel so sure that he'd always have Sting's arms to return to.

"Look… Rogue… I just… I spent a lot of time wondering what I did wrong. And I totally could have been more involved with trying to help you. That's all. I get… I mean… I'd like the story on how this happened, but I get that it was something you were beating yourself up over. That's why you left, right?"

"Mm… Well…" He hadn't wanted to tie Sting down. "The whole thing was my fault… so…"

"Yukino said there was one night where you got drunk same as me. Was that when it happened?"

"We…" Rogue drew his breath in as steadily as he could. "We left separately. You kept flirting with _her_ , and I was drunk and I was mad and I stormed out, and you came running after me a minute later. You could barely walk, so I took you home even though I wanted to slug you and… And you asked when we got there why I was mad. You wouldn't have remembered for how drunk you were, so I told the truth and you… you um… and you…" Rogue ducked his head so his bangs would hide his cheeks. "You offered to thank me for escorting you by doing the things with me that you wanted to do with Minerva. I just… I don't know. I was drunk, and you wanted her and I was _drunk_ and I just thought 'I might not get a chance like this again in this life' and I was drunk but… But compared to you… I wasn't really that drunk."

Sting slid the palm of his hand gently under Rogue's chin and turned his head up, reaching with a thumb to wipe a tear off Rogue's cheek. This time, it wasn't tears of relief.

"I'm so sorry."

"I already told you, I'm not mad. Hell, if anything. You should be mad at me. That's a dick way to offer someone sex."

"It was all my fault."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, about a quarter of the people I slept with hadn't had anything to drink at all, and I was 'not that drunk' with some of them to. On the scale of how sketchy my drunken incidents have been, this one doesn't fall in obviously wicked territory."

"I—"

"It worked out." Sting moved his hand from Rogue's chin to Rogue's shoulder. "In the future, I guess _I'll_ have to be the one making sure _you_ don't sleep with anyone after a night at the bar, huh?"

Rogue managed to get the corner of his lips up just the slightest bit. "You're off to a terrible start."

"Sadly, I can't redeem myself for… eight more weeks?"

Rogue's voice fell flat. "Ten."

"Your stomach's gonna tear open before the kid is ready to come out." When Rogue had no good response for that, Sting said, "Well, you still have to feed him. Come on. Breakfast."

-o-

The subject of the child's conception didn't come up again. Sting and Rufus spent the entire meal bouncing baby name ideas off of Rogue, who ignored them as he alternated between fretting over Frosch and wishing that Sting hadn't let him off so easy for everything.

Rogue finished last through no fault of his own. He cleaned one plate just as Sting dumped another in front of him.

"You're eating for two, and I'm not going to watch you waste away again."

"That was because nothing I ate would stay down—not because I wanted to starve myself," Rogue said. "Besides, do I _look_ like I have space in here for that much food?" He gestured to his stomach, and the baby kicked in response. "I'll have more later. Right now I'm stuffed."

The worried looks Rufus and Sting gave one another told Rogue that he hadn't been believed, and with a sigh he picked his fork back up and humored Sting by forcing down a few more bites.

Feeling twice as bloated as normal, Rogue had to brace himself before standing. He was not amused to see Sting prepped to catch him if he lost his balance.

"I'm not about to fall, Sting."

"Gajeel never told me anything about how _this_ was going." Sting gestured to Rogue's belly. "I wasn't sure. How do you feel right now?"

"Nauseas," Rogue said before he could stop himself. "I'm not going to throw up! Just… I wouldn't mind lying back down."

Or running off again. He trusted that Gajeel and Natsu would deliver, but he still hated hated _hated_ not being there to recover Frosch. But then between the baby and his second serving of eggs and pancake, Rogue was overstuffed and uncomfortable. Or at least, more uncomfortable than had become the norm for him in his third trimester. And that only added to the miserable feeling that was the physical manifestation of his anxiety over Frosch.

He must have sincerely looked like he needed more rest, because Sting sent Rufus to have the reception extend their stay, and took Rogue back up to their hotel room.

Any other day Rogue might have been flustered to have Sting help him into bed, and ask that he not be coddled. Sting taking care of him when he felt off wasn't anything rare, and he was by no means reluctant to call a halt to it whenever Sting grew too overbearing. At that time, Rogue let it happen without comment. Not only did he let Sting handle everything, but when Sting tried to step out to drop off his testimony for Gajeel, Rogue grabbed onto Sting's pant leg and said, "Lie down with me."

"Now?"

"I always feel better when you're here." The hotel bed had oddly shaped body imprints from previous patrons, and the blankets weren't as soft as the one that Sting would grab to curl up with Rogue on the couch at home, but it was close enough. "I didn't have that for so long. Please? Just for a little bit."

Sting bent down, brushed Rogue's bangs from his forehead, and kissed him lightly.

"It would be my pleasure."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was hell to revise. Normally I don't even "revise" chapters. I just proofread before uploading them, and fix whatever typos I catch or clarity issues with a sentence that doesn't look clear cut anymore after I take a step back from it. But this chapter actually got revised. Major chunks of scenes deleted, moved around, and had stuff added in.
> 
> Originally, like a dolt, I got so worked up with finally hitting the climax and getting Sting and Rogue back together that I literally totally forgot that Frosch and Lector were also hostages. So the last chapter ended with Sting blasting Minerva just as she warped away and then running to catch up to Rogue, and then it's explained in this chapter that Gajeel, Natsu, and Erza took over tracking her down. And I was about halfway through the chapter before I realized "Oh yeah. The cats." So Sting leaves them at Minerva's mercy, and Rogue doesn't even think about Frosch for a while after waking up with Sting. Which I kind of glossed over while writing, but after wrapping things up realized was total OOC bullshit.
> 
> Leaving the last chapter off on Gajeel coming to the rescue was kinda an easy edit throwing save to excuse Sting leaving without Lector and Frosch. He could trust Gajeel to take care of things and make sure Rogue stayed safe. But then I had to reorganize this chapter to make Rogue worry about Frosch earlier and alter explanations for how the Minerva scenario was resolved (they were still tracking her down in this chapter, originally), and that required I also add in random details like the testimony in order to segway between conversation points that had smooth transitions originally, but looked choppy after editing.


	24. Archer

Gajeel stopped by the hotel that evening with Frosch and Lector, and Sting and Rogue forgot about one another for one moment as they hugged their other life partners and swore never to let the two out of their sight again.

Dinner was held in the hotel room. Rogue had Sting now, and he wanted to enjoy that to the fullest. He wanted to lean his head on Sting's shoulder or wrap his arms around his lover or brush his fingers over Sting's hand to earn a cocky little smile that made his heart pitter-patter. Since there was no way to do that without Lector snickering and teasing them or Frosch getting so excited she forgot to breath, and since Rufus found all four of them insufferable when that happened, that meant they either had to fork out for room service or keep their hands to themselves. It was a no-brainer.

Frosch was safe. Sting loved Rogue. Everything was perfect an amazing and right.

-o-

They spent a week in the hotel before going home. Minerva was captured, sure, but it took some time to decide exactly what to do with her from there. Fear for the safety of everyone else he cared about eventually won out over Sting's desire to still see Minerva redeemed. She had taken Lector twice now, and nearly killed Rogue and, by extension, their child. You could only offer someone so many chances before it stopped being good natured and became sheer stupidity.

No application was sent in for her to be placed on parole under the guild's watch. She was the Council's problem.

Setting foot in the Sabertooth guild hall was a mistake. Questions about whether Rogue was alright and where he'd been were cut short when people were more interest in what was up with his swollen belly. Sting, shooting Rogue a devious grin, feigned concern and pretended to be none the wiser, and Rogue was left to fend for himself against everyone's questions.

Yukino came to the rescue, smacking Sting upside the head and pulling Rogue away from the door.

"Don't crowd him. You'll upset the baby."

"You told _Yukino_ about this before you left? Not Sting?" Dogenbal asked.

Yukino rolled her eyes. "Sting told me _after_ Rogue left. Come on. Let's get you some food. You've been stuck with nothing but Sting's cooking for the past week, haven't you?"

They ate out or ordered room service for every meal, but Sting had left Rogue to explain his pregnancy on his own, so Rogue gave Yukino the most distressed look he could fake and said, "I got food poisoning three times."

"Liar!"

-o-

It took a whole month of debate for Sting and Rogue to grudgingly agree to the proper arrangements. Neither of them were satisfied with the idea that the baby might spend the night at someone else's house, nor did they like the idea of being the only around to get up to feed him. In the end, the only solution was for them to move in together.

The flipped a coin on whose house to keep.

Rogue, towards the end of his pregnancy, had finally hit that last little warning the doctor gave him during his diagnosis. The child didn't sit easily in his male pelvis, to which his exaggerated growth outward was owed, and the closer he came to term, the further out his center of balance went, and the more prone he became to stumbling forward. Between that and the general rule against heavy lifting, he was exempt from helping with the move.

He sat on his couch with Lector and Frosch and watched a thriller movie while Orga struggled to help Sting move the parts of a bedframe upstairs to Rogue's room. The eventual plan was to buy a larger bed and mattress to share, but Sting insisted that buying all the remaining baby things they needed came first, so for the time being they would push their beds together.

"Should you be watching that?" Sting asked to try and distract from how he dropped the bedframe on Orga's toe. "You're going to get your blood pressure up."

"It's fine." Rogue clutched a throw pillow tight in his hands as he waited for the moment where the murderer jumped out to stab the girl. "I'm not tense at all."

"Really?"

"Really."

As he reached under the bedframe to hoist it back up, Sting asked, "Why are you squirming them?"

"I'm not. The kid's kicking."

Sting dropped the frame and abandoned Orga to extract his foot out from under it alone. "Really? When did that start?"

"Around the time the music got tense." It struck Rogue that he'd never mentioned the baby moving to Sting before. "Oh. About a week before that time you stopped by the my hotel. That's when I first felt him."

"You dick! Why didn't you say something then?"

Because Rogue was trying to hide that he was pregnant, but he knew Sting knew that. "I guess I figured you would figure he was kicking by now. It's not that subtle when he pushes hard enough."

It wasn't. The baby was big and strong enough now that when his little hands and feet pressed against the wall of Rogue's womb, you could see the skin on Rogue's stomach bump out. Even if he felt it a hundred times before he saw it, and even if he knew it was normal, that would never stop looking strange to Rogue.

"He's kicking now? Like, _now_ now?" Sting held a hand inches above Rogue's stomach. "Can I feel?"

"Well, technically he's elbowing me, but—" Sting's hand planted itself firmly on the side of Rogue's stomach "—sure. It's the other side, by the way."

Sting stared intently at Rogue stomach, waiting. When the baby squirmed and pressed up against his daddy's hand, a grin broke out on Sting's face so warm, Rogue swore it could melt icebergs.

"Archer."

"What?"

"Let's call him Archer," Sting said. "Unless that one makes you want to shoot yourself too."

"The name Mildred did not make me want to shoot myself. Hearing the father of my child suggest we name a boy that did."

Sting laughed and gave Rogue a playful swat before sitting down beside him, leaning on Rogue's shoulder with a hand still on his stomach. Rogue rested his head on Sting's and shut his eyes, enjoying the weight of Sting's head and the spicy scent of his shampoo.

"A little help here?" Orga asked.

"Just five more minutes," Rogue said on Sting's behalf. Five minutes of them together like that wouldn't be enough, but any delay in them breaking away was worth it. Him and Sting snuggling together felt so very right. So much so that Rogue didn't even mind all the trouble of his pregnancy.

-o-

Rogue didn't go to the guild too often. With his balance thrown off it was a pain to walk all four of those blocks to the guild hall, and even if Sting and his doctor both insisted he stay active, there were ways to do so without ending up in a building full of people who teased him mercilessly for his condition. Not that his guildmates weren't also eager to help with whatever he needed, but the same could be said of Frosch and Lector—who Sting had stay home to help Rogue on days that Rogue didn't follow Sting to work.

Still, Rogue woke up mid-March with the strong sense that he needed Sting's presence. Having long been Sting's partner, Rogue was used to his constant company, and going too long without him was unsettling. Making the jump to life partner a few months ago meant primarily that physical comfort from Sting was also common enough now that Rogue no longer spent so much time desperately wishing for some little wisp of affection like he used to, although he did still miss Sting and his touch when they were alone.

Most days that he stayed home, he managed just fine with the simple knowledge that Sting would be back in time for dinner and might drop by at lunch. With Rogue as pregnant as he was, Sting didn't take any guild jobs that took him out of town, so they were never far apart.

But on that particular day, knowing that Sting was nearby and would be home soon and that it wasn't too hard to walk to him if anything happened was not enough. Rogue woke when he felt the warmth from Sting's side of the bed vanish, and pulled himself up and dressed in an oversized top that Orga had lent him. He stumbled downstairs where Sting was setting up the coffee machine and making toast, and took over the latter task. Toast was something Sting could usually manage somewhat alright, but even though Rogue pre-set the toaster settings, Sting still burned a lot of bread.

"Trouble sleeping?" Sting asked.

"I guess." Archer was entirely too big, and there was no such thing as a comfortable position to lie in with him. "You can't skip out today?"

"Nope. A Councilor is visiting to discuss what to do with Minerva. Her trial is coming up, and I guess they want to make sure we weren't concealing anything she did wrong before we turned her in. Not feeling well?"

"I don't know." Rogue rubbed his stomach, which felt knotted and tense. "Anxious, I suppose."

"I can have someone come get me when the Councilor shows up."

Rogue wanted to say yes, but he knew how unprofessional that would look. Sting already lacked the respect the other guildmasters had for being half the age of the next youngest. His laid-back disposition didn't help. If there was anything he could do to avoid looking even less suited for his position, he needed to do it.

"I'll go with you." Rogue grabbed their toast and spread jam over it quickly. Sting didn't like to wake up any earlier than he had to, and ate while he walked to save time. When he was sober, anyway.

That detail was almost an afterthought to Rogue, since Sting hadn't gone out and gotten himself wasted since Rogue came home. The subject had never come up for discussion, and Rogue didn't know if it was because Sting was trying to look after him, because Sting was afraid something else might go wrong after one night of drinking led to Rogue running away to hide his pregnancy, or because Rogue wasn't in shape to follow Sting to the bar and look out for him. Whatever the reason, he was glad for it. Sting wouldn't be young forever, and breaking his bad habits before his body could no longer take the abuse was a good thing.

Rogue passed a piece of toast to Sting, and one to Frosch and Lector then stuck the last in his mouth. The sweet tang of the plum jam on the bread irritated his throat before he even bit into the bread, and Rogue's brow furrowed. It had been a long time since morning sickness troubled him.

"Something wrong?" Sting asked, wrapping a hand around Rogue.

Rogue shook his head. "Just wishing I was already curled up in your office. Let's go."

-o-

He felt the first recognizable cramp a block from the guild, but said nothing. All of his reading when he first learned he was pregnant assured him that labor, especially for one's first pregnancy, could last a full day before the child came out. When he asked his doctor—he was back to the one who first diagnosed him—he'd been assured that the precedent for men in his situation was that whatever magic made it happen in the first place allowed for them to avoid surgery to remove the child.

So he had plenty of time before Archer was ready to be born, probably. At least a few hours. He asked if he could have tea when they arrived. Something, anything to help him relax while he waited, and went back to Sting's office to take it easy. Hopefully the councilor would show up early, and once he was gone Rogue would ask to be taken to the hospital.

-o-

Lunch came and went. Sting was caught up in gathering papers together and sent Yukino to make sure Rogue was set up with something to eat. Rogue turned down the offer with a request that Sting not be informed. Sooner or later he knew he'd hit the point where his body didn't want food in it, and if he threw up while the Councilor was there, it would be a disaster.

Maybe Yukino told on him. Maybe Sting, out of habit from back when Rogue's morning sickness was bad, checked on his own and saw that no orders had been placed for Rogue. Either way, he was there half an hour later with a bowl of chicken noddle.

The door flew whilst Rogue was in the middle of a contraction, and it took a moment for the pain to reside enough for him to properly address Sting. Long enough for Sting to grow worried.

"Is something wrong with Archer? Did he stop moving?"

"The baby's fine," Rogue said. "Is the Councilor here yet?"

"Nah. I'd bet you anything he didn't feel like getting up early for this and left late. He probably won't come until we're about to close."

It mattered not that Rogue refrained from whimpering, because Frosch spoke up and gave his act away. "But if he's late, Rogue's tummy is going to hurt for longer."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Rogue's tummy keeps hurting, but he doesn't want to go to the hospital so Frosch can meet her brother until after Sting talks to the Councilor."

Sting gaped at Rogue, who could only shrug helplessly.

"Are you _kidding_ me?"

"He's not due _now_ now. There's at least a few more hours before I really have to go, so—"

"We're going now. _Now_ now."

"But the Councilor—"

"Can reschedule. Payback for making us wait all day."

"Your reputation—"

"Would go down the toilet if it got out that I made someone sit in a backroom in labor while I waited for some frilly meeting. Hospital. Now. Get up."

Rogue stood, took two steps, and stumbled.

Sting shot around the desk to catch Rogue, sweeping his lover up into a princess-style carry.

"Nevermind. Just relax. I'll get you there. Frosch, get Lector."

Frosch bowed her head. "But Fro wants to be there right away when her brother shows up."

"We still have _hours,_ " Rogue insisted.

"It will take you one minute to find him," Sting assured Frosch. "You two will catch up to us before we get to the hospital. Hurry up."

Sting said that, but to Rogue he seemed intent on getting there before Frosch could even locate Lector. He ran with Rogue out of the guild hall and down the street, which Rogue _knew_ would lead to questions and rumors. What a circus it would be when Rogue next showed up at the guild with Archer in his arms, but there was no helping it. Sting was in full papa bear mode now, and the most Rogue could do was appreciate his lover's concern.

He rested his head on Sting's bicep and shut his eyes. This was fine. A little embarrassing, but no more so than anything else to do with his pregnancy, and it was nice to have Sting there. Especially after spending so much time thinking he would be alone during labor. The actresses in his shows always made labor out to be the worst thing in the world, but now that it was upon him, Rogue felt like he'd been overanxious. It was uncomfortable, but with Sting there for him, a little discomfort was nothing.

-o-

Labor was _not_ nothing.

The only precedent for giving a laboring male painkillers ended in a miscarriage. The doctor thought it was probably a coincidence, which Rogue was apt to believe, but one look at the horror on Sting's face and Rogue couldn't possibly ask to take that risk. It didn't matter that the precedent setter didn't realize he was pregnant, self-medicated, and learned he was having a baby by way of giving birth at home. Sting worried, and Rogue wouldn't do anything to make Sting think that little Archer was in danger.

At least, not worrying Sting seemed like something that mattered at the time. Now Rogue didn't give a rat's ass what Sting thought. In fact. He fucking hoped he broke the little shit's hand. His shows always portrayed the hand squeezing as something done unconsciously, but Rogue found that squeezing with all his might gave him something to focus on, and anything that took his attention off of the pain made it easier to ride the contractions.

"Hang in there, Rogue. Just breath."

Rogue's forehead was buried in his outstretched arm—both of which were coated in sweat, and he lifted his head slightly to rasp, "The next time you tell me to breath, I'll see to it that you never breath again."

"Sorry! Sorry. I Just… Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?"

"Can we trade bodies?"

Sting, bless the fuckwit, started to rise to ask a doctor before Lector said, "Obviously you can't."

Rogue felt everything in his body tense as another wave of agony hit, and he bit down on his lip and focused on squeezing the life from Sting's hand.

-o-

Thirty-two hours. Thirty- _fucking_ -two hours. By the time it was over Rogue would have happily passed out and never woken up again. Instead, he kept his eyes open and let the doctor pass Archer to him.

He came already wiped down, and it took less than a second after the doctor placed the baby on Rogue's chest for Rogue to put a hand over him and hug little Archer as tight as he dared. Somehow, for as much as he'd hated being pregnant, it felt strange to think that he _wouldn't_ constantly carry Archer with him from here on out.

The baby was smaller than Rogue imagined, fitting easily in his hands. A standard size newborn when Rogue half expected Archer would break the record for largest birth weight. Dark haired, with bright blue eyes that stared up at Rogue in simpleminded confusion. Rogue pegged him immediately as having inherited his daddy's wit, but he was still the most previous thing Rogue ever held.

"Can I hold him?" Sting asked.

"Wait your turn."

"Your turn lasted nine months. Let me hold him for one minute."

While to doctor insisted in the background that they didn't have to take the baby _immediately_ , Rogue clutched Archer tighter and turned the slightest bit away from Sting.

"And for all the trouble I had those nine months, I think I get to hold him a little longer first."

"No fair. Most of that trouble was you sneaking away in the first place. You just want to run away with him and keep him all to yourself again."

While the two bickered and the doctor fretted over whether or not the relationship might be abusive and Frosch climbed up onto the bed and leaned over Archer to hug her new baby brother, Lector shook his head in disbelief. As if life with Sting and Rogue didn't already get hectic enough. He was going to make sure those two never drank again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I coulda written chapter upon chapter of fluff covering the last ten weeks, but there would be no tension, so I didn't feel like it. Enjoy this show of the key events instead.
> 
> There was one other scene I wanted to add, but it was one I felt would be better off getting fully fleshed out, so it's it's own chapter. Tune in next... um... few days for the conclusion!


	25. Refrain

Sting woke up to a cold bed, but didn't have time to figure out where Rogue disappeared to. He could hear Archer calling for Mama and Papa, and since he wanted both of them Rogue couldn't be in the nursery, which meant Sting had to scramble to their precious little boy's side.

Archer was sitting upright in his dinosaur shaped kiddy bed when Sting came in, teary eyed. He saw Sting, but didn't stand up and down like he normally did when his parents answered his summons.

"What's wrong, Tiger?" Sting asked.

"Bed's wet."

Sure enough, Sting could see the wet patch as easily as he could smell urine. They'd made sure to have Archer sit on the toilet before going to bed—he was getting better at using it without being told—but getting him through the night was still a struggle. Still, a glance at the gaudily colored clock hanging over the door told Sting that Archer made it almost until sunrise. He was getting better.

"Don't worry about it. Let's get you washed up. I'll change the sheets before Mama sees anything."

Archer held up a suspiciously wet hand for his papa to high-five, and Sting went for it. Bathing Archer was always a messy affair that required one bathe themselves afterwards anyway.

He scooped Archer up, carried him to the tub, dumped bubble bath in while the water filled, and wiped the little squirt down. Lector, woken up by Sting's racing down the hall to Archer's room, pitched in by throwing Archer's sheets and pajamas into the wash while Sting was occupied.

Since Archer insisted he was a big boy and big boys were able to dress themselves, Sting left him to it while he went to see what Rogue might be working on for breakfast. To his surprise, Rogue wasn't in the kitchen. The next person to come downstairs wasn't the family's best cook, but little Archer, with his shirt on backwards, no pants, and only one shoe.

"What happened to the other shoe?"

"Monsters eated it."

"Monsters?"

"Mama didn' look in the c'oset for bedtime. Monsters eated my shoe."

Sting looked past Archer to the stairs, now worried. Rogue _loved_ that their boy took his mama's dark magic as something that monsters and not small children should be scared of, and looked forward to making a show of checking Archer's closet every night. Skipping out on that task was more disturbing than giving Sting a chance to make everyone breakfast.

Rogue's scent was weaker downstairs than up, too. Had he not come down yet?

Since Sting didn't want Archer to end up with food poisoning any more than Rogue did, he handed Lector an egg carton and said, "You're in charge. Archer, behave for Lector, okay?" before going back upstairs to see what was up with Rogue.

It wasn't so much that Sting found Rogue as it was that Rogue stumbled out of their bedroom just as Sting reached the top step. He was too disheveled to have been busy prepping himself and would never have ignored Archer's cry for help over something so self-absorbed anyway, but Sting didn't ask what he'd been doing. One look at the pinched expression on Rogue's face told Sting that he would regret asking.

"Archer wet the bed again."

"I heard."

"He almost made it to morning."

"Hopefully he'll be able to make it the whole night soon." Rogue rubbed absentmindedly at his chin with the back of his hand. "Where is he?"

"Kitchen. With Lector. Do you want me to go and tell them that you're handling breakfast?"

"No. I'm really not hungry."

Rogue skipping breakfast wasn't unheard of, but it had never been a reason before for him not to make sure that Archer started the day off with the right meal.

Now just trying to get a feel for what was going on, Sting asked, "Is that permission for me to make omelets?"

"No. It sounds like Lector's on it, and his aren't runny." Rogue sniffed the air and grimaced. "I'm… going to be at the guild. You get Archer dressed properly and meet me there, alright?"

"We can all head there now."

"No. I have some errands to run first."

"Oh." Sting cocked his head as if the change in angle would help him see something he was missing. "Yeah. Okay. We'll be there in a bit. You take care, okay?"

"Yeah." Rogue pushed past Sting. "See you."

Sting stood at the top of the stairs, watching Rogue descend, and didn't move until he heard the front door close. Not sense Rogue found out he was pregnant with Archer had he acted so distant, and that unsettled Sting. He didn't love Rogue any less for running, but the possibility that Rogue might vanish in the dead of night again always lingered in the back of Sting's mind.

If Rogue left, would Sting be all on his own to raise Archer while trying to piece together what happened? How would he explain to Archer that sometimes his mama just needed a lot of space and alone time and hopefully would be back in six months, and that he still loved Archer a lot despite leaving without him? The thought scared Sting almost as much as the idea that Rogue might take Archer with him.

He shook himself, laughing nervously, and went back downstairs. Rogue wouldn't really do that. Probably. Sting would have said the same thing right before Rogue ran away before, but there was no reason now. It was just one rough morning, not weeks of Rogue acting weird and secretive. One morning. And they were a family now. Rogue knew Sting loved him, and he wouldn't put Archer in a situation where he had to say goodbye to one parent or the other, much less a situation where Archer didn't get the chance to say goodbye.

Rogue wouldn't even consider taking a job when Archer was mad at him because if anything happened, that would be Archer's last memory of them together. He wasn't going to tear the family apart.

Still, Sting fretted all through breakfast. He did his best to smile and laugh for Archer and Frosch—who Rogue alarmingly forgot in his haste—but worry knotted in his stomach and made his insides do cartwheels. He should have pressed Rogue right then and there. The last time he sensed something was off and gave Rogue his space, it ended in disaster. They were spiraling towards another disaster, and Sting was so nauseas from his worry that he thought he would throw his breakfast up before they made it to the guild.

-o-

They arrived without Sting getting sick, but the first thing Yukino told Sting when they stepped through the door was, "Rogue threw up."

Sting paused, not noticing Archer reach for Yukino and plead for his papa to hand him over to her. She was the one who looked after him when Sting and Rogue were both busy with guild work or left together on a job.

"Is he alright?"

"He swore he was, but he seemed… Not. He was distressed over something. W-well… he was sick, so I suppose that's normal."

"Mm." Sting hoisted Archer up and passed him to Yukino. "Where is he now?"

Yukino tried not to look concerned, but didn't quite manage as she said, "Holed up in the office."

Rogue hadn't done that since Archer was born. They kept it clean now, since it had proven to be a good place to hold meetings whenever some official or another came to visit. When it came to the daily grind, however, both Sting and Rogue still preferred working in the guild commons. It was easier to keep an eye on Archer as he played with others, and it was just more _sociable_ than hiding in a back room.

Rogue hiding in the back was wrong. Very wrong. Sting almost forgot to tell Archer to have fun with Auntie Yukino before rushing to the office door and throwing it open.

"What are you hiding?" he demanded.

Two seconds later Sting felt guilty for being so harsh with his tone. Rogue looked up from the office chair, eyes red and puffy, as if Sting had burst in to announce their divorce.

"I…"

"Crap. Sorry. Are you okay?"

Rogue shook his head.

Hearing murmurs behind him, Sting shut the office door and asked softly, "What's wrong Rogue."

"I feel terrible."

"What for?"

Rogue shook his head. "Not _for_ anything. I just don't feel good. I started feeling off a few days ago, and I barely made it to the bathroom this morning before I threw up. I thought… I mean… I k _new_ I wasn't done, but I waited and nothing more came up, so I gave up on waiting for it. But when I got here the smell of last night's booze hit me and I just… dear lord I feel sick."

"Do you need to know to the hospital?"

"Yeah…" Rogue's eyes widened as he caught on to the fact that Sting meant immediately. "Not yet! It isn't urgent. It's that… here."

He bent down and picked a paper cup with a stick in it up from the floor, which smelled similar to how Archer's bed smelled earlier. Sting gave Rogue an odd look before accepting the cup and giving it another test sniff. It was Rogue's for sure, but the scent wasn't quite right, and it took Sting a moment to recognize the exact change. His eyes went to the stick, and he knew what it was and what it said before the saw the two pink lines.

"Another one?" Sting asked.

"You know, I half expected that you already smelled it on me and were waiting for me to catch on. I hate you, by the way. I swear I hate you so much. You _would_ put me through this twice."

Rogue was glaring with all his puffy eyed might, so Sting did his best not to laugh when he said, "What are you? A girl? How did you manage this twice?"

"I don't _know_. The doctor said it's supposed to be some sort of weird mishap that you see sometimes when two people's magic mix. We must have the right mix. _You're_ on the bottom from now on."

"You're pregnant." Sting couldn't help it. He started laughing. "We're gonna have another kid."

"Laugh it up. _This time_ I'm making you wait on me hand and foot."

"What do we tell Archer?"

"I'm in favor of not telling him until he asks why I'm fat."

"Be reasonable."

"I am being reasonable. Part of me's hopping I miscarry. What are we going to tell him if we say he's going to be a big brother and then that never happens?"

"Fine. Fine. We'll wait. What do we tell everyone else?"

Rogue's face was dead serious as he said, "We don't tell them at all."

"They're gonna notice, Rogue. What do you want to do, run away and hide until this new one is born?"

"It worked last time."

"Yukino and I knew."

"And no one else needs to know this time. Yukino can come with us so Archer won't cry for her."

"We're not running away together, Rogue. It would be too much of a pain to find work that would support a kid, a pregnancy, a future baby, and whatever dingy apartment we can get on short notice."

"Fine." Rogue crossed his arms and sat back in the chair, refusing to look at Sting. "They can find out when Archer tells everyone that he's going to be a big brother."

Still laughing, Sting dropped down beside Rogue into the chair that was large enough to fit the former guildmaster, slinging an arm around his beloved. "We're going to have another kid."

"Funny how the one who isn't pregnant is happier about it."

"I'll buy condoms after this one. Or we can trade places in bed and try for a third. I can't wait to meet them. Thanks for letting me in right away this time."

"What?" Rogue scowled. "You didn't think I'd run away again did you?"

"Of course not." Sting managed to say that without missing a beat, so Rogue would never spot the lie. "Besides, I know you wouldn't ever _consider_ doing that to Archer. He'll be so excited. Or do you think he'll be upset that he has to share us?"

"I guess we'll find out… Do you think he'll take it hard?"

Sting leaned over and kissed Rogue, tugging lightly at his beloved's lip with his teeth as he pulled away. "We'll get to that when we get to that. No sense in worrying until then. We're together all the way through this time, you know. I'm sure we can handle anything."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.
> 
> And no sequels. I mean it this time. I know I said I wasn't even going to write this fic, but the last time I made a sequel of something that wasn't meant as a series, it ended badly.
> 
> ...I don't really have anything deeper than that to say. I had a fun time with this one. I'm glad so many people liked it.


End file.
